This game featured the brawl at Candlestick Park mentioned in the Elio Chacon memory. Writers at the time called it one of the best brawls in baseball history as two fights broke out at once: Orlando Cepeda, who'd just been beaned, charged Roger Craig after Elio Chacon, who'd just been spiked on a pickoff play, punched Willie Mays in the head and was summarily bodyslammed.

Mays then took on Felix Mantilla before Gil Hodges stopped him.

Chacon was blamed for starting it and was the only one fined, though it was said that Cepeda's beaning was ordered by Casey Stengel.

I think of all the 1962 radio broadcasts I've listened to, this was my favorite. That eighth inning!

The Mets go into the 8th inning winning 5-2, looking like they might break their seven game losing streak. Then:

Harvey Kuenn singles

Mays singles, Kuenn running on the pitch gets to third.

Cepeda doubles, scoring Kuenn, Mays goes to third, Cepeda on second. Score, 5-3 Mets.

Felipe Alou singles scoring Mays and Cepeda, score tied 5-5, Alou on first.

Bob Miller comes into the game. Throws a wild pitch. Alou goes to second.

Miller throws another wild pitch, Alou goes to third. Alou was credited with a stolen base because he was running on the play, but it was a wild pitch. The scorer gives a SB because they don't assume Alou would have been thrown out. Listening to the description on the broadcast, it didn't sound like a straight steal, but more of a hit & run.

With Alou on third, Miller pitches, and it's a passed ball on Harry Chiti, Alou scores, Giants go ahead 6-5.

I was listening on an iPod, with earphones on and when I heard this sequence of events I was going, "No! No! No!" out loud. Funny how a game played almost 60 years ago can draw you in emotionally. I could imagine what Stengel was thinking as this was going on. "Two years ago I was managing Hall of Famers on the Yankees. What did I do to deserve this!"

So the Mets lost the game 6-5. It was the 8th loss in their 17 game losing streak. Incidentally, the scorecard posted here has an error in that it has Alou going to third on a base hit. It was a wild pitch, though he was credited officially with a stolen base. Maybe the official scorer was feeling bad for Bob Miller and cut him some slack.

After 56 months, the Giants return to the Polo Grounds to take on the Mets. Former Brooklyn/LA Dodger Roger Craig starts for New York, and just two batters into the game he is down 1-0 on a Willie McCovey home run.

McCovey, who just missed playing home games in the Polo Grounds by a year and a half, is so in love with the old ballpark that he hits another homer off Craig, this one a two-run shot, in his second at bat. Then in the fifth, Willie Mays gives the crowd something to see as he hits his first Polo Grounds home run in five seasons.

The Mets got on the board in the bottom of the sixth thanks to Rod Kanehl's first major league home run. But the Giants broke it open with five in the seventh to take a 9-1 lead, thanks mainly to a grand slam by Jim Davenport off Willard Hunter.

A two-run homer by Felix Mantilla capped a five- run rally for the Mets in the last of the eighth, but Stu Miller came in to shut the door on the Mets in the ninth, even though they did get the tying run to the plate with two outs. Miller retired Frank Thomas on a groundout and the Giants won in their return to Manhattan.

I attended this game at the age of 14. I sat in the left field bleachers so I could see my hero Willie Mays come down the steps of the visiting teams clubhouse before the game. He hit two homers that night in front of a big crowd. I was in a picture that appeared on the back page of the Daily News the next day of Willie coming down the steps of the clubhouse.

I was barely seven years old and this was my first baseball game. The year before I had asked to go see the Yankees but my dad (an absolute Giants fan, though he grew up a block from Yankee Stadium and had stories of Bill Dickey umpiring games for him and his friend when he was a kid) told me that "there is no baseball in New York." In March of 1962 I put my name in a drawing at the Daitch Shopwell supermarket near my house and won two tickets to this double-header! We drove to the end of the subway and took that to the Polo Grounds and I remember being surprised that it "had Met logos (the NY) all over it" and couldn't understand what my dad was talking about when he kept referring to the Giants. I don't remember anything about the game except being sure, to the very end, that somehow the Mets would come back and win. Of course they didn't, but it made no difference, I've been a Mets fan ever since.

First game as a kid. 10 years old. My dad took me for my birthday. Loved Willie Mays and his home run landed right in front of me.

I saw this game for "free" at the Polo Grounds. You got a general admission seat for bringing in 20 side panels of Formost milk cartons.

This was my first major league game. My oldest brother took me and my other brother to the game. He had been a a New York Giants fan. Anyway, we sat in the upperdeck in right, the foul pole was to our left. The seats were jammed with people. The memory of of all those people with their red, white and blue shirts is still with me. Oh, did I mention that I sat behind a pole and passed peanuts and money back and forth all afternoon. I don't remmenber anything about the game except for the final score, 3-2 Giants over the Metsies.

This was the second game I went to at the Polo Grounds that first season. My dad took me and I remember leaving our right field seats a little early to beat the crowd in the ninth - we saw the game ending double-play while standing underneath the upperdeck behind home plate.

Mike McCormick started for the Giants and I believe the score went back and forth before the Mets went ahead late in the game. Prior to the game there was a home-run hitting contest. A Met won that too. And my dad found a parking space on the street right near the upper deck home plate entrance so it was a winning night all around (the Polo Grounds was located underneath hence entrance was through the upper deck.

The Giants' Ernie Bowman had his moment in the spotlight on this day. In the top of the fifth inning, he connected for his first and only major league home run to tie the game. He later had a tenth-inning single to drive home John Orsino for a 2-1 San Francisco win. These were two of ten RBIs that Bowman would have in his three seasons in the majors.

This game was significant for two reasons. First of all, Roger Craig became the first (and still only) Met pitcher to ever give up FIVE homers in a game on this date. (Shea has been kinder to mediocre Met pitchers than the Polo Grounds was in this regard.) Second, it was the game that started Roger's 18 game losing streak. He went into the game 2-2 and did not win for over three months until August 9th. During the streak he switched his number to 13 for a while.

The end of an era! Marv Throneberry's last game with the Mets. Have been listening to a lot of old game recordings and just heard this one, then a game a couple of days later vs. Cincinnati, when Bob Murphy made mention that Throneberry and Ted Schreiber were optioned to the minor leagues, so had to look up whether either of them ever came back. Schreiber did, at the end of the 63 season, but it was the end of the Major League road for Throneberry. The original radio broadcasts of both of Throneberry's first and last Met games have been preserved for posterity, because I heard the first one last week.

The Mets defeated the Giants in game two of this Sunday doubleheader at Shea. Cliff Cook---he of the lifetime .201 batting average--was hitting third in the lineup, but Casey must have known something: Cook hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the first off veteran lefty Billy Pierce.

Carlton Willey pitched a complete game, allowing just one earned run (a Willie Mays single drove in Jim Davenport) and seven hits against the defending NL champions.

A couple more interesting notes about this game: Don Larsen pitched in relief for the Giants, and Gil Hodges played in his last game. The final hit of Gil's caareer was an RBI single that scored Charlie Neal in the 4th inning to make it 3-0 Mets. Jim Duffalo retired Gil in his final at bat, as Gil popped to second in the bottom of the eighth.

My first Mets game. My Dad took my twin sister and me to the game. I have been a loyal Mets fan ever since, through thick and thin. Have now been to all three stadiums. A fun team. Congrats Mets on 50 years.

My first Mets game and will never forget.

I cannot believe my Dad stayed for the entire game. It was a very exciting game culminating in a walk off homer in the bottom of the eleventh. Remember walking down the steps from the streets where we parked up on Coogans Bluff. I was just a few weeks shy of 10 years old. Will soon reach 63 years old. Still a huge Mets fan LGM!

This is the game when the three Alou brothers, Matty, Felipe and Jesus, played in the same game for the first time. They all batted consecutively in the eighth inning.

Felipe had been with the Giants for several years and Matty and Jesus would be for several additional years, but San Francisco broke up the family soon after this game, dealing Felipe to Milwaukee. All told, the Alou's combined 5,194 hits, 269 home runs, 294 stolen bases, 2,223 runs and 1,656 RBIs.

Carl Willey goes the distance for the CG win, his 9th of the season in 21 decisions.

This game was played on the day I was born. Glad to see the Mets won. This was a better day for the Mets and N.Y. for what was to come exactly 38 years later.

This was the final win for the New York Mets at the Polo Grounds and the final loss for the Giants' franchise at Coogan's Bluff.

The Mets had seven more home games in 1963 after this game but lost them all. Then they finished the season with a nine game road trip.

The Mets jumped on Jack Sanford and scored two in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Duke Snider and an infield out by Pumpsie Green. They added two more in the second on a bases-loaded single by Tim Harkness.

Al Jackson pitched a complete game for the Mets, allowing an unearned run in the sixth and an Orlando Cepeda home run in the eighth.

If I am not mistaken this game on September 12, 1963 was the last game the Giants played at their former home ballpark the Polo Grounds. A great trick question is when did the Giants play their last game at the Polo Grounds? If you answer September 29, 1957 you would be wrong.

I am fairly certain that this was DUKE SNIDER NIGHT. It was delayed a bit because of the rain and there was a full array of former Dodger heroes in attendance, including Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella

I am fairly certain because Marichal pitched and hit a homer and it was one-sided. A couple of years ago I asked Juan Marichal if he remembered hitting a home run in the Polo Grounds, he smiled and knew that it was off "Stallard, I hit it pretty good, too."

My father took us to this game and it was a real treat - he bought us among other things Mr. Met loose leaf notebooks.

In the seventh inning, the Giants have an outfield of Matty Alou in LF, Felipe Alou in CF, and Jesus Alou in RF. It's the first time the three brothers are in the outfield at the same time.

Willie McCovey hit three homers for the Giants in this 13-4 romp.

I believe it was 8th inning where the Alou brothers were retired 1-2-3.

The Alou Brothers batted in the bottom of the 7th. Jesus got a single. This was his 10th MLB game.

The Mets defeated the Giants for the 100th win in team history on this night in San Francisco. Jim Hickman hit a two-run homer in the second inning and Charley Smith's two-run double in the eighth put the Mets ahead to stay. Bill Wakefield then pitched a pair of scoreless and hitless innings to end it. This was Wakefield's first of two saves he would have in his only major league season.

Not the first game I attended (that was June 8, 1963)--but this was the first game I ever attended with my dad!

This date was my 9th birthday, and Mom and Dad took me and my sisters to the World's Fair, where we stayed from about 12 in the afternoon until about 6:00. My dad surprised me with tix late in the afternoon, sent my moms and my sisters home--and me and him hung out for a Friday night game.

Though the Mets were my team, I was just as excited seeing, for the first time, those Giants! McCovey. Cepeda. The Alou brothers (and all three of them made it into the game!!!).

And of course, the man I thought was purely magical...Mr. Willie Howard Mays!!!!

Jack Fisher started for the Mets; and I'm not sure who started for the Giants...it may have been Jack Sanford. In any case, I remember that the game was tight until the Mets pulled it out in the late innings. My father confessed later to my moms and other relatives that he was relieved that it didn't go to extra innings--LOL!!! (I guess he was REALLY glad that we didn't wait until two days later to go to the game!!!). I gotta research the boxes; but I think Joe Christopher hit one out (I may have it mixed up with another game I attended).

I recently visited Shea, and lots of memories came back from my first visit (also the Giants' first visit) in 1964. Dad, a Giants fan in the 1950s and a longtime Willie Mays fan, brother Marty (age 8), and I (age 7) were part of a crowd that was a record for some years. We were way up in the upper deck in right field.

We arrived in time for batting practice, and Dad was quick to note that Willie Mays was the guy having the most fun on the field, playing shortstop (like a Gold Glover, of course) while his teammates hit. Dad also correctly predicted Willie's stolen base. "Watch him. He's going to steal. There he goes!" And number 24 was indeed gone and safe at second.

The real highlight came later for we young Mets fans, when Jim Hickman hit a two-run, game-winning homer in the 7th, into one of the upper decks in left field, just fair. Based on my recent visit, I'm pretty sure that Hickman didn't put the ball into the third deck. It probably only seemed that way to young eyes in the far-away right field upper deck. I've always remembered Hickman's shot as a walk-off home run. Now, I wonder if we left early. (More fatherly wisdom, perhaps?) No matter. My brother was able to proudly proclaim: "Our first visit to Shea Stadium and the Mets win!" Indeed, our first visit and lasting memories, too.

This was the first game I attended at Shea Stadium.

This was the first ballpark with escalators! We road them to the Mezz.. The box above the scoreboard actually worked that night with "headshots" of the players appearing as they came to bat. This did not happen often. You would need to see an early picture of the Shea scoreboard to see what I mean if you are not old enough to recall.

In those days all the games against the Dodgers and Giants were sold out, this was no exception- jammed packed, loud reactions to every Met pitchers' strikes.

Jack Stanford had a no-hitter going into the 7th and the Giants lead ( I know now was only 2 runs ) seemed insurmountable. Hot Rod Kanehl walked - a rally in itself, Frank Thomas tripled and Jim Hickman homered to centerfield. Willie Mays came very close to catching the ball.

All of this I clearly remembered and it is quite gratifying to see it confirmed by the box score. I did not, however, know that those were the only hits the Mets got that night.

My first trip to Shea, I can only hope that my last trip will be even marginally close in memories and remembrances.

My dad took me to this game, which was the day before the famous 23 inning game. If I recall, Charlie Smith homered for the Mets in the game as Jack Fisher picked up a "rare" win! I think Ron Herbel was the losing pitcher.

This was my first Mets game at Shea. My brother and I wanted to go on Sunday for the double header. However, our Dad was not a sports fan and he would not sit through two games! Turns out, we made the right move! The Sunday games took forever to end! For one day, my record at Shea was perfect. I should have stopped at that juncture!

My family and I (from Nebraska) went to the 1964 World Fair and I decided to attend the ballgame at Shea instead. I sat with two great NY kids in the upper deck. I understood a few words they said. (Just kidding, they were very nice.) I got to see several future Hall of Famers play and will always remember a great day at the ballpark. Mets won and Willie Mays tripled!

My first game at Shea. My friend’s dad was a lifetime Giants fan and he took us to see Willie Mays. I believe this was first Saturday Night game played at Shea.

This was my first live game. Sat in the upper deck green seats. Mays hit a triple but scored on an error. Forever I thought he hit an inside the park Homer till I saw it years later in the box score on the internet. It was great. I'll forever remember that day

Just unbelievable. 2nd game of a doubleheader, and it went 23 innings! I can still hear Lindsey Nelsen saying "this is now the longest game from the standpoint of time in baseball history". I think it ended up being 7 hours and 23 minutes.

I distinctly remember that there was a triple play at some point during the game (can't remember which team did it). Also, Casey Stengel was ejected around the 11th or 12th inning (don't remember what got him ticked off), and the Mets played the game under protest. I also remember either Nelsen or Bob Murphy saying sometime around the 20th inning, "back in the 7th inning, Ralph Kiner went downstairs to get ready for Kiner's Korner, and he's been waiting for the game to end ever since".

Finally, and again I could be wrong about this, I seem to recall that a young rookie pitcher named Gaylord Perry pitched most of the extra innings for the Giants. Wonder what ever happened to him?

Shea Stadium had opened barely a month before, and three weeks after this amazing game, Jim Bunning pitched a perfect game against the Mets at Shea. What a beginning for the ballpark!

I can't believe no one else commented about this one! It was 23 innings and the second game of a doubleheader! Willie Mays played shortstop for a couple of innings. Frank Thomas actually sat down in the outfield. And Del Crandall won the game for the Giants in the top of the 23rd.

My dad and I tried to attend this doubleheader but did not reserve seats. When we got to the Stadium, they general admission was sold out so we went back home to Jersey City. I got home just in time to see the Mets tie the second game. Some Met hit a long drive and Willie Mays jumped high at the wall to try and catch it. But, when he came down, he held his glove open to say "I don't have it" and it went as a home run. After that, the game went on and on and on....

This was game two of a Sunday double-header. The first game started at 1pm on a May afternoon and the second game almost ended in June! The triple play was started by Mets shortstop Roy McMillan (who'd only come over from the Reds three weeks earlier). I was nine then and was getting ready for bed by the time of the triple play (it was Sunday night and I had school the next day) but my father let me stay up late so he could brag about 'our boy Roy'.

The Mets had been down, by a score of three to six, in the ninth and Joe Christopher hit a three run homer to tie it. Gaylord Perry (who did pitch in extra innings) admitted later that this was the first game he ever used a spitter. I'd LOVE to see a box score of this game. Hard to believe the Mets' relief corps could have held that Giant's lineup scoreless for thrirteen extra innings.

Thanks, Mike, for recalling the detail about Ralph Kiner being stuck on the "Kiner's Korner" set for hours and hours. They kept talking about it all season!!

I was at the game with my sister. I was 14 at the time. she was 15. The game was jogged into my memory when Mike and Mike on ESPN radio had a feature about people's recolletion of their greatest sports moments. Let me tell you. Shea Stadium had run out of food, drinks, you name it. I remember the game going on forever. But I can't remember how we got home that night. I think it still is the longest game in time in baseball history.

A long day’s journey into night. It was moment, carved into the recesses of my memory, that went so far ahead of expectations to be the stuff of myth. The game itself was unreal. It launched the Hall of Fame career of Gaylord Perry, saw Willie Mays play shortstop, featured Orlando Cepeda, produced a triple play (for the Mets), and lasted 23 innings! My brother and I sat in the cheap seats of the upper deck, row V I believe, behind us were the gulls. The Mets trailed this game until the ninth.

I had school and my brother Carlos had work so we left. After all these were the Mets, a comeback seemed remote but traffic from a full house was a sure thing. We were in the parking lot when the roar of the crowd told us something special had happened.

I kept the radio tuned in from that point on, through Queens, over the Whitestone bridge, and ultimately to my bedroom where I could be found with the transistor radio on under my pillow. A special thanks to Bob Murphy whose word picture of this game was perfect.

I was 14 at the time, and went to the game with my father. I remember that there weas no food left and everyone was hungry. instead of chanting "Let's Go Met's", we were chanting "Let's Go Home". I made my dad stay till the very end!

I was the starting pitcher for the Mets. Casey pinch hit for me (Rod Kanehl) in the early innings. Larry Bearnarth and I walked around the inside of the stadium for 15 or so innings - seeing what the view was from every seat. I finished up by going to the TV room and watching the game with Ralph Kiner. The next day we had an exibition game in Williamsport against the AA team. Nobody wanted to go but we went anyway.

The things I remember about this day was that Eddie Kranepool was just called up to play in the double header after playing a double header in Buffalo the day before. In the second game, Willie Mays played ss, the Mets turned a triple play started by Roy McMillan, and my dad promised my mom to take her out to dinner after the second game. He did take her out-------for an early breakfast.

This was my first game ever at Shea. I was eight years old and my dad and I took the train from NJ to watch the games. The World's Fair was right across the street from Shea. When we got there (we didn't have tickets), we couldn't get any reserved seating. Just as we were about to leave and go to the fair, a window opened up with standing room only tickets, so we bought two. We went all the way up to the top deck (we weren't familiar with where standing room was), and we were lucky to find a couple of unoccupied seats across an aisle from each other. The first game was a fairly routine 5-3 game (didn't Orlando Cepeda steal home?), but the second game was a beaut. I can still see Joe Christopher tying it up at 6 in the bottom of the 7th with a 3-run homer. After that however, we decided to head home to NJ, since I had school the next day. After about an hour and a half ride home, I asked my mom, "Who won the second game?". "They're still playing; it's in the 16th inning!" was her reply. It was later I found out that the Mets had turned a triple play, and that it was the longest game by time in Major League history at that time.

I was only 5 when this game was played. My father told me we were on a trip from Sacramento (yes I'm a Giants fan) to Monterey in California. We listened to that game the whole way in the car and my mom was so sick of baseball after that. I only wish I could have remembered it better but I do remember a long car trip with baseball on the radio for the entire ride. My dad talked about that game for years. WOW! what a game 23 innings, 7+ hours, and how about Gaylord Perry pitching a 10 inning relief shutout.

I was 8 years old. It was my first time to the then "beautiful new Shea Stadium". I remember the airplanes flying by very close as well as the World's Fair helicopters. This was part of a double header where in the first game Juan Marichal beat the Mets as usual.

By the third inning of the second game the Mets were losing 6 to zip. Then the Mets actually battled back. Joe Christopher hit a three run homer that was just out of the reach of Willie Mays, to tie it all up! I was sitting pretty way up so it was easy to see that.

It was about the 11th inning and we moved down a deck or two, to watch but then my parents said we had to go. It was getting cold and that sweater that seemed like way too much when the double header started, now did not seem like enough. We got to the car and onto the parkway when I let out my scream of the day when the Mets I heard on the car radio, the call of the Mets pulling a triple play in the 14th inning.

When we got home to the "burbs" the game was still going on. I was put to bed but tried to listen anyway. So this day where the first pitch was thrown at 1:05PM ended around 11:30PM with the last pitch.

I heard a rather funny story about this game. It didn't have as much to do with what happened in it as it did with the television side of things.

The game lasted so long that it was still going on when the TV show "What's My Line?" came on at 10:30. Host John Daly said on the air that he had been watching the game and talked about how incredible it was. Daly always had a few opening comments to start his show before bringing out his first guest. But his choice of words here turned out to be taboo.

After Daly mentioned the Mets and Giants, those in the NYC viewing area switched channels to what John had been watching. Instead of tuning in to a panel of celebrities try to guess people's lines of work, the "What's My Line" viewers became instant baseball fans. The innocent comments from the host himself dropped the ratings of his own show!

As it turned out, the show was over before the game ended. There were probably a lot more people (at least in the New York area) who knew that the Mets lost in 23 innings than the fact that Liberace was the mystery guest who sat next to John Daly that night.

This was my first time at Shea Stadium and I was 9 years old. My dad, an old NY Giants fan took me to see this doubleheader and I remember going to the bathroom about the 12th inning of the second game and hearing a lot of noise. Then when I got back to my seat I asked what happened and I was told that Orlando Cepeda just hit into a triple play and I missed it because I went to the bathroom.

I remember watching the whole doubleheader on tv. We had an old Crosley TV in my grandmother's bedroom and I watched it there. I even ate dinner up there because I didn't want to miss the end of the game. About 10:30 my grandmother went to bed but let me stay up and continue watching. That's the only time I've ever seen a triple play. I still have the rocking chair I watched it in and that game is one reason I kept it.

I was 11 1/2 when I attended this doubleheader with 2 other fellas my age from my block. We lived out in Coney Island and one of the mothers drove us out to 74th St in Queens where we rode the 7 train the rest of the way with the pick up spot to be there also after the 2nd game. Things were a bit safer then and parents a bit more trustworthy.

We got out there pretty early and were able to get Upper Deck seats, they ended up being in the last section all the way down the right field line 3 rows from the top of the stadium. Seemed like a mile away from the plate, and actually felt closer to the planes that buzzed right over our heads heading into LaGuardia.

We came with a few sandwiches each and a few plums and grapes. They were all quickly devoured by the 3rd or 4th inning or so.

By the 7th inning of the first game we were getting kinda antsy sitting up in the stratosphere so we decided to walk down a few levels and look around at the views from the better areas.

By the end of the first game we were wandering around the concourse behind home plate and we spent some time watching the ushers and how they patrolled the sections and seated the people. When the second game started we were still on the concourse around home plate and watched the first few innings from there really happy for the view. We were watching some of the empty seats as people went to the refreshment stands and when the third inning ended we took a chance, and as the ushers weren't looking we headed down the main aisle towards home plate looking like we belonged, just 3 freckled face kids heading back to our seats.

We kept slowly walking closer to the front but not seeing any empty seats, then about 20 rows or so from the front rail we saw 4 men in suits getting up from their seats down close to the rail. We moved a bit faster and passed them at about the 8th row, they were going up towards the back and us heading to their seats. We then heard a voice -- it was an usher seated in the second row popping up looking at us as were just about to sit in the vacated box. We were sure we were caught and would be headed back to the concourse, but just then the usher looked past us and acknowledged what must have been a signal from one of the departing men giving us the ok to sit there and the usher turning back to his post to sit down.

As we settled into those box seats 3 rows from the rail, it was about a year later when I saw a picture in the Post of M. Donald Grant, the chairman of the group that owned the Mets and recognized him as one of the men who left those box seats next to the Mets dugout that Sunday Memorial day afternoon.

We spent the next 20 innings sitting there cheering for the Mets until our throats were hoarse pleading for a run as the evening headed towards midnight. Well we didn't score but saw Major Leaguers up close and personal, screamed our heads off, and yes we met the angry Mom back at the subway stop in Queens about midnight for the ride back to Coney Island with perma grins plastered to our faces.

That day/night was one of my most memorable Met moments of my then young life, and ranks pretty high up there to this day as an almost 58-year-old adult and lifelong Met fan. Thanks for letting me share this story with you.

An amazing thing about the 23-inning game between the Giants and the Mets is that Tom Haller, three-time All-Star catcher for the Giants and Dodgers, caught ALL 23 innings.

Tom was my brother-in-law (he passed on 11/26/2004 at age 67) and was a great, kind man. He was a gentle Giant. I am very interested in finding photos or audio clip of the game and especially of Tom Haller catching, hitting, or running during the game. He was 4-10 for the game.

Thank you.

Michael Alexander michaelsfas@gmail.com

Just went to Rangers Fan Fest this weekend and while eating breakfast at the hotel met Gaylord Perry. I told him that I was originally from New York and grew up as a Mets fan. He went on to tell the story about this 23-inning game. He mentioned that he was a relief pitcher and the last in line to get called into the game (no one else was available after him). He said that after pitching 10 scoreless innings with barely any time to warm up it made a long-lasting impression on his manager. He said that 5 days later he got his first start because of that game and never pitched in relief ever again. It was fun listening to him tell the story. I talked to him later on at Fan Fest and got an autographed baseball (my first from a Hall of Famer.). Spitball or not, he was one of the greatest pitchers in baseball. Saw his WS ring from 2010. I now live in Texas, but after finding out he only appeared in 2 post season games I'm happy the Giants gave him a ring (even though it was against the Rangers). I recall hearing about this 23-inning game and now it has more meaning after meeting the pitcher who got the win.

I went with my two brothers. I was 14, my younger brother was 9 and my older brother 21. I remember the triple play and Willie Mays playing shortstop. We kept begging my brother to stay one more inning and ended up staying for the whole game. It was a great memory.

We would have all been 13-14 years old and I took the train from Freeport to Flushing Meadows with my friends, the twins Neil and Brian. There may have been another friend or two, but I'm not sure. Anyway it was a Sunday and we had school the next day but we stayed till the bitter end.

A great memory from a day so long ago.

When the Giants got the men on in the 14th with nobody out and Cepeda coming up, I figured that was the end of matters and the Giants were going to get four or five runs, so I decided to go to the bathroom. In the almost 50 years since, I have NEVER even come CLOSE to seeing a triple play in several HUNDRED games. When I heard what was left of the crowd cheering, I knew I had missed something big. Of course, there was no instant replay in those days, so I got a verbal description from someone who had had plenty of beers before they ran out.

I was at this double-header as an almost-13-year old. My first time at Shea Stadium. Several friends and I took the LIRR from Freeport to Woodside/Shea; they all left in the early extra innings--before the triple play--but I stayed to the bitter end. Two losses. As the Stadium slowly emptied I moved further down each inning. I remember chatting with Joe Christopher (#24) at the corner of the Mets dugout an inning or two before the game ended. Somehow made my way home on the LIRR and when I fell asleep on my desk in 7th grade English the next day, my teacher (a Mets fan) knew why and let me sleep through class.

I went to game with the Mardis brothers. There was a triple play on Willie Mays. I missed it because I was reaching down for a drink. The game was so long I had to leave, I was afraid of getting home too late. When I got home my Dad was still watching the game and asked why didn't I stay and watch. LOL

I think this was the second game my father took me to at the brand new stadium. I was seven years old. We took a special direct bus from Brooklyn. Left the stadium after the 21st inning...but all we could do was sit on the bus and listen on the radio until the final passengers boarded when the game ended.

I'm fairly certain the account of the first game of the doubleheader taking 2 hours 29 minutes to complete is inaccurate. I think that game, although 9 innings, took more than 3 hours to complete.

Great memory. Triple play (MacMillen to Kranepool), Mays plays shortstop.

For those who want to hear the missed triple play off the bat of Orlando Cepeda. This highlight can be heard on the Miracle Mets CD. Lindsey made a great call of that play. Meanwhile on WCBS TV What's My line Host Wally Bruner took a few extra seconds to come out for his opening introductions on his show due to the fact he was watching the Mets game in the green room.

It's amazing that the attendance was 57,037 at the start of this doubleheader. No wonder all the food and drinks were gone during the second game.

My brother-in law and my sister let me and my brother Charlie go to the World's Fair with them. I was 15 at the time. We drove from Waterford CT to the Fair and I remember looking at the sports section of the NY Times that was in the car. I saw that the Mets were playing a doubleheader and then put it in the back of my mind. We got to the Fair and we spent hours walking around the Fair and seeing a lot of things. Finally brought up the game to my sister and she said it was OK to go see the game but BE SURE to be back on time because we had to get back to CT at a decent time. We sat in the upper deck in RF close to the foul pole. Had such a good time watching the game but we left in the 19th inning and boy was my brother-in-law and sister mad at us. We came oh so close to being left in NYC.

The entry from Jimrat about the "What's My Line?" episode is inaccurate. It wasn't host John Daly, but panelist Bennett Cerf who mentioned that he had been watching the game (it was in the 21st inning) when the show began. Cerf was then warned by Dorothy Kilgallen standing next to him that he shouldn't have said anything because the viewers might change channels. Daly, however, did say at the end of the show that the game was now in the 23rd inning and Bennett could go back to what he was doing. I don't know if any people watching WML switched over to see the Mets after Mr. Cerf's opening comment, but that is how it happened.

My friend John and I were in 10th grade, living in Rockland County. It was my first time in the city without my parents. The bus ride was about an hour to Manhattan (Port Authority), then the 7 train to Shea, which had just recently opened. The Mets were still lovable losers, and we were both big fans of Willie Mays, who later joined the Mets.

The Mets lost the first game (no surprise), and we didn't have great hopes for the second. We were in the upper right field deck. As the game went beyond the 9th inning we took turns standing in line at what seemed like the only phone booth yet installed, with every kid in the stadium calling home. I think we were in line for 8 innings, and I finally won the jackpot and called my parents to say we were definitely staying until the end (there was never any doubt).

I remember Willie playing shortstop for 1/2 inning, Roy McMillan's triple play, and Del Crandall's go-ahead double in the 23rd. I think I also remember Willie making a great over-the-shoulder catch in deep center. We were in the stadium for about 12 hours, and I ate 8 hot dogs. For the last few innings we found seats down in the field level.

We came very close to missing the last bus home from Port Authority, but just made it -- it was Sunday night. I called home at 2:30 a.m., and my father got out of bed to come to the station and drive us both home. I don't remember if I went to school the next day. It was, of course, one of the high points of my 75 years on earth.

I was 12 and went with my younger brother and a (slightly older) friend to the game. We stayed for the whole thing - ate an absurd amount of hot dogs and tried the patience of our older friend who probably would’ve left after the first game. I remember the amazing game pitched by Juan Marichal and the day that Ed Kranepool had - a lot of oh-fers. Years later I met Gaylord Perry at a HOF autograph session and he told me a long story about how he pitched in the first game and flew home only to see that the game was still going on. Not true but fascinating.

If my memory is correct, Joe Christopher had a 3-0 count and Casey gave him a green light and he promptly hit the game-tying home in the 7th inning. Who would have guessed that it would take 16 more innings for either team to score again!

My dad and I attended this doubleheader since I was a die-hard Giants fan, even after they broke my 11-year-old heart when they moved to SF after the ‘57 season. My dad owned a grocery store in Jersey City and had to get up on Monday morning at his usual 5:30 a.m. to open. So, we were heading out after the 12th inning, and as we were walking around on the landing heading for the exit, we heard a roar as one of the Alou brothers hit a single. My hero, Willie Mays was up next so my dad and I hustled back and grabbed a couple of empty seats in the lower reserved section behind 3rd base. Mays walked and Cepeda was up next. Either the hit-and-run or the steal sign was on because Alou and Mays took off just as Cepeda ripped a bullet of a line drive just to the left of 2nd base. Roy McMillan made a nice grab of the line drive, stepped on 2nd to double Alou and fired to first to nab Mays for an unbelievable triple play. We left after that but I will never forget almost missing a rare triple play.

I was 14 at that time, my parents took me to the game. I remember meeting Orlando's Cepeda's parents outside before going into the stadium, because my parents know them from Puerto Rico. We stayed till the 17th inning because we (my sister and I) had school the next day. It's funny that by the time we got home in Brooklyn the game was still on.

I was not yet 17 when I went to this doubleheader with two high school friends. We took the bus and subway in from Bergen County, NJ. In my teen years I never left a ballgame at Yankee Stadium, the Polo Grounds or Shea Stadium before the final out. As the game went on and on my friends wanted to leave.....but they couldn't. I was the only one who knew the multiple subway transfer points to the Port Authority bus terminal on 175th St. and I wasn't going until the game was over. When the game ended and we eventually got to the bus terminal the busses had stopped running for the night. We had to walk across the George Washington Bridge to Ft. Lee, NJ. My friends insisted I call my dad to come pick us up.

I was 14 years old and attended this mind blowing doubleheader! My cousin Stan was with me - and it left a FANTASTIC memory! We stayed until the final out!

I was 19 years old and about to start my last year of college. A friend of mine and I went to Shea early so we could see batting practice before the first game. I was still mending a broken heart from the time the Giants left New York. I was there to root for the Giants and my heroes on the team. (In the mid-1960s I converted to become a loyal Mets fan.)

During the second game we started to move down from the upper deck to find empty seats, until we were sitting right behind home plate.

I remember that at least one of the Alou brothers was playing for the Giants that day and of course Willie Mays. I stayed until the very end but my friend had to leave during the second game. He later told me that when he got home to Connecticut the game was still going on and he was shocked to learn that.

I was 14, arrived at Shea with my friends about 11:30 to get good grandstand seats and watch BP. I won't repeat the many recollections above but I do remember that at some point in extras we -- along with most others in the upper deck -- moved down to about row 10 behind the Mets dugout.

All these years later I can still see the slight grimace on Willie's face, retreating to first as Roy McMillan tossed ball over his over his head and into Kranepool's head for a triple play.

Yes, the concessions were barren, some had finished selling empty hot dog buns long ago. I was concerned that my parents would be worried about my late arrival. I found a public phone (yes, kids, there used to be such a thing) but at least a dozen people on line. Shea was so new at the time they had just a few booths installed.

Then I sprinted next door to the World's Fair, found an empty phone and called. My mom answered and told me "we weren't worried. We're watching the game now. EVERYONE is watching the game."

We left after Crandall's double, the stadium clock read 11:25. We were there five minutes less than two hours.

The subway ride back to Sheepshead Bay was about 90 minutes.

I played sick the next day.

What I remember about this game was seeing Willie Mays in center and Duke Snider(in his final season) in right.

This was the night that LBJ sent the Marines into the Gulf of Tonkin, a message displayed on the old message board and cheered by many thousands at the game (but not my dad).

This was a very historic game, especially in light of baseball today. It marked thedebut of MLB's first Japanese pitcher, Masanori Murakami of the Giants. He unfortunately was no Nomo or Yoshii and vanished within a couple of years

This indeed was Murakami's debut. Al Jackson runs his record to 9-13 with a complete game 6-hit gem. Ron Hunt hit HR number 6 in the win.

All of us remember our first ballgame. This was the first Mets game I ever attended. I remember attending this game with my cub scout troop. We sat in the upper deck and it was so cold that we left in the fourth inning!

I believe that Juan Marichal pitched that day.

And I caught Kiner's Korner as soon as I returned home.

First time the Mets played at home on Easter Sunday and they lost. Giants swept the short two-game weekend series (Good Friday was an off day back then.)

I believe that this an Easter Sunday and the second game of a doubleheader. There was rain in the forecast so my brother and I brought our blue Mr. Met ponchos which depicted Mr. Met smiling, with an open umbrella as it rained. The caption read "WE CAN'T LOSE TODAY!"

It didn't rainout the first game but I do recall play stoppage.

I remember my uncle saying that is unlike Roy McMillan to make errors. (It seems that he made 2 in this game, in the first innning.) At least one of them was throwing.

Swoboda hit a long home run which he talks about in Golenback's book. And then it rained. The box score confirms my memory (7 inning game) of the rain and the next day's sports page read: SENT 'EM HOME WET BUT HAPPY.

This was one of the most amazing comeback wins in Mets history. Trailing 8-2 after seven innings, the team scored twice in the eighth and four times in the ninth to tie the game. The Mets failed to score with the bases loaded in the tenth, but then came up with a run in the 11th for the victory.

Erratic defense by the Giants played a key role in the Mets' rally. With one out in the top of the ninth, Jim Hickman hit what appeared to be a game-ending double play. However, second baseman Jim Davenport made a bad throw to first base that allowed Billy Cowan to score the tying run. In the 11th, Joe Christopher stole second base and moved to third on catcher Tom Haller's throwing error. Charley Smith followed up with a sacrifice fly that drove home Christopher and put the Mets ahead to stay. Dennis Ribant then pitched a scoreless bottom of the inning for his first and only win of the season.

A pinch-hit, three-run triple by Danny Napoleon gave the Mets a 7-6 win at Candlestick Park, and gave Casey Stengel his 3,000th career win as a professional manager.

I was seven years old and I remember Danny Napolean hitting a bases-loaded triple. Looking over his career stats, I found that his only triple was in 1965. I remembered that it was an away game and that the Mets had won. That narrowed it down quite a bit!

In the first game of a Sunday doubleheader at Candlestick Park, Juan Marichal ran his record against the Mets to 11-0 with a five-hit shutout. Marichal struck out nine, and the Mets got just three runners as far as second base in the game.

It was Marichal's second shutout against the Mets in nine days, and he would shut them out twice more in 1965.

At this point, Marichal had pitched 101.1 innings against the Mets and had allowed just twelve earned runs.

In the game the Giants jumped on Al Jackson early. Willie McCovey hit a two run homer in the first, Hal Lanier had a two-run triple in the second, and Jose Pagan had an RBI double in the third. Jackson lost for the third time in three starts. But after winning game two of the doubleheader, the Mets were 6-7 and ended the day half a game ahead of the 5-7 Giants.

It was pouring rain before the game. Batting practice was rained out. As a 9 year old I was so worried the game wouldn't be played.

Galen Cisco pitched a great game! First 2 pitches of the game were strikes to Schofield. He hit Dick Schoefield with the next pitch. Jesus Alou then singled and then Willie Mays hit a double off the left field wall to drive in both runs. Ron Swoboda, a rookie, hit a homer in the middle innings, but that's all the Mets could muster.

I remember it like it was yesterday!

Two things I can remember about this game was that Willie Mays hit a homer, maybe 2, and that Jesse Gonder took a called 3rd strike on a perfect pitch that got about a molecule of the outside corner.

To follow up on J. Eckert's post in April 2002, Willie Mays did hit one homer in this game, a two- run shot off Jack Fisher in the top of the first. Willie later singled to drive in what would be the winning run in the top of the eighth.

Gonder was called out on strikes as a pinch- hitter in the bottom of the seventh with two on and one out. An oddity (by today's standards): Gonder was batting for leadoff hitter Bobby Klaus, and one of the runners on base was pitcher Jack Fisher, who had just batted for himself!

Charley Smith homered off Gaylord Perry in the bottom of the fourth after a Johnny Lewis single for the Mets runs. Gaylord recovered to pitch a complete game and strike out nine, including the last two batters of the game, pinch-hitters Joe Christopher and Hawk Taylor.

Heading into this game, tonight's starting pitchers, Warren Spahn and Darrell Sutherland, had combined for 362 career victories. Spahn owned 361 of them!

Sutherland pitched pretty well in this game; he allowed just one run, on a Willie McCovey home run, through six innings. But in the seventh he gave up a single to Jim Ray Hart followed by a Len Gabrielson home run and Sutherland was soon taking a shower.

Tom Parsons and Jim Bethke could not contain the Giants after the Mets pulled within a run on a Charley Smith pinch-homer in the seventh. After an error by Smith, Parsons gave up back-to-back homers to Mays and McCovey in the eighth. Bethke got the first two outs in the ninth but then walked Mays and McCovey and gave up a three-run homer to Hart.

The win for Spahn was the second-to-last of his career.

Almost 50,000 at Shea. I sat way down the right field line. Jack Fisher started and looked like he had great stuff. Ron Herbel for the Giants. He survived a 2nd and 3rd one-out jam in the 1st by striking out Joe Christopher and Charlie Smith. Fisher got into trouble in 3rd. Bloop double just inside the right field line by somebody. Herbel hit a 23-hop single up the middle to drive him in. Another couple of bleeders, and up stepped Willie Mays. He hit one that is still going. Tremendous shot to left. Giants plated 5 in the 3rd. Mets rallied gamely but fell 8-3. Joe Christopher hit a solo shot in the 8th off Masanuri Murikami.

My aunt had passed away suddenly earlier in the week so we were somber despite the fact that our boys, the Jints and illustrious Willie were in town.

Willie sets a National League record for home runs in one month with his 17th of August, 41st overall.

Mays tops Ralph Kiner, who slugged 16 for Pittsburgh in September, 1949.

Wonder what Ralphie boy was thinking as Willie touched them all!

I sat in the upper deck behind home plate. I remember Mays hitting a homer that broke broadcaster Kiner's record for home runs in a month. Willie also made an excellent catch. The World's Fair was in progress adjacent to Shea, so the overall atmosphere seemed uniquely charged to this teen-aged boy from Jersey.

This was the first game I ever attended. I went with my dad and we sat in the mezzanine last section in left above the visitors bullpen. I remember watching Bob Shaw and Chuck Hiller warming up in the bullpen. I remember the tape measure shot Willie hit to left center. I can still remember the thrill of watching the ball in flight landing not far from my seat.

And I got to see Masanuri Murakami pitch. The first Japanese player in MLB.

To top it all off I found a Soupy Sales button on the ground on the way out. It said "Charter Member of the Soupy Sales Society" on it. I still have it. This brings back good memories of my now deceased dad and being a kid in love with baseball.

My first baseball game ever. I was 9 years old and will never forget walking up the tunnel to the seats and seeing how bright the lights were. The game went 17 innings - if memory serves me correctly Jim Davenport hit a homer in the 17th to win it for the Giants (although I was back in the bus sleeping by then). Been to Shea many times since then but you always remember the first. Great website.

It was a Jim Davenport homer in the 17th inning that gave the Giants a 5-4 win. The Giants improved to 22-7 and this win was their twelfth in a row.

My father was at this game. He remembers it was a packed house at Shea. I was not into baseball then.

Ray Sadecki's appearance in this game was interesting. He was making his debut as a member of the Giants after his trade from St. Louis a few days earlier. Sadecki's final game as a Cardinal before the deal was one in which he suffered defeat to the Mets and got the only hit off Jack Hamilton. For the second consecutive time, but with a different team, Ray was pitching against the Mets with Hamilton as his mound opponent.

Neither Sadecki nor Hamilton would be around long enough for a decision. The game lasted 17 innings and ended with a San Francisco victory on a home run by Jim Davenport off reliever Dave Eilers. It also featured Billy Murphy's first major league homer - a three-run blast against Sadecki in the bottom of the fourth.

Packed house. First night game attended 8 years old. Walking under stands towards box seats as #3 batter is announced. Crowd explodes in standing ovation as Willie Mays steps in batters box. Jim Hickman broke finger diving for foul ball in first inning and left game. I was charged up and awake even though game went past midnight.

As I wrote about the April 16th game, the first game I ever saw at Shea, I was 7 years old and knew nothing about baseball other than that the Mets were MY team and therefore the best team in baseball. The 1966 Giants had Willie Mays's last superstar year. He hit 37 hrs, McCovey hit 36, Jim Ray Hart hit 33, Marichal won 25 games, Gaylord Perry won 21, and the Mets beat the Giants anyway, 11-4.

At that game, however, my father gave me a history lesson: The Giants, he told me, used to play in New York. The Dodgers, he told me, used to play in Brooklyn. They only recently had moved to California, and the Mets were a brand new team, and were the worst team in the Majors.

I was so disillusioned that, starting with the June 4th loss to the Dodgers, the Mets lost the next 7 games we went to!

Jack Fisher picked up his first win of the season in this game at Shea. The Mets had 17 hits in the game, and all of them were singles.

After falling behind 1-0 in the top of the first, RBI singles by Johnny Lewis and Cleon Jones gave the Mets a 2-1 lead in their half of the first. The Giants tied it in the second on a double by Don Landrum, an infield out, and a wild pitch.

The Mets took the lead for good in the third on an Ed Kranepool single that scored Ron Hunt. They added two more in the fifth and then batted around in the sixth with the key play being a bases loaded error by Jim Ray Hart (my scorecard says Hal Lanier) that allowed two runs to score. Ron Hunt drove in the final run in the seventh.

The Giants were down 11-2 in the eighth and put together three consecutive one-out singles for a run, then Dick Selma came in and gave up a run on a fielder's choice groundout, and retired pinch- hitter Willie McCovey on a fly ball to the warning track in left with runners at the corners and two outs. Selma pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to close it out.

The Mets put together a seventeen-hit attack of pure singles in routing the first place Giants. The victory ended a twelve-game winning streak for the San Francisco team.

My dad took me and a bunch of friends to see the Yankee - Twins doubleheader at the stadium. I admit right here that I am a SF Giants fan. The Mets were playing two in SF that day. We listened to much of the action on the way home in the car. First game was dominated by Marichal. He tossed a two or three hitter. In the nightcap, our neighbor (he lived a few blocks away in Brooklyn) Jack Hamilton handcuffed the Giants 7- 2 going all the way. Jim Hart slammed a few home runs that day. And I don't remember off hand how the Yankees fared. Mudcat Grant was one of the starters. Man, I'm gettin' old!

I was seated in Box 28A Seat 2 and during the top of the 4th inning caught a foul ball hit by Willie Mays. I still have the ball...

With the death of Willie Mays this past week it got me to look up this game. My older brother took me to this game - I was 10 years old. It was my first Major League game. My brother is a Mets fan - I'm a Yankee fan. He refused to take me to a Yankee game so this was it. I remember a grand slam home run being hit and thought it was Willie Mays. Looking at the box score it turns out it was Jim Ray Hart. Anyway it was my first game and I got to see Willie Mays, Wille McCovey, Gaylord Perry etc. Great memories.

My first-ever Mets game, and it was a beaut! My dad bought tickets for the two of us and we sat in the mezzanine section along the first base line.

It was a Thursday afternoon game, Mets vs. the San Francisco Giants. Willie McCovey launched a majestic home run beyond the Mets bullpen in right field (it may have just landed).

However, the real fireworks were saved for the bottom of the ninth inning, when Ron Swoboda hit a three-run, pinch-hit homer over the left centerfield fence to win it in dramatic fashion for the Mets.

I still have the pennant that my dad bought me from that game and it's up above the doorway to my study at home.

At 15, I thought this was the greatest game ever played! The Mets trailed 6-0 after 6 innings to the great Juan Marichal, whom up to that point had never been beaten by the good guys (I think it would be another 2 years before they finally put an "L" next to his name.

But John Stephenson and (I think) Al Luplow each hit 2-run homers in the 7th & 8th to make it a game. An exciting rally in the 9th against the Giants bullpen, ending with Swoboda's blast off of Bill Henry.

I saw the game winner from the standing room area in the right field corner. That 15-year old knew that he had to hustle to catch the subway back to Brooklyn!

Not only do I remember the pinch hit home runs by Rocky Swoboda and *49, John Stephenson but even more important was the horrible Beatle haircut and Nehru jacket my mother made me suffer through on this hot August day!

Yes, I said Nehru jackets!

My first game and what a beauty!! I was 10 and I still remember Swoboda's homer sailing over the left field fence to win the game. It was a great day...Thanks Dad.

Herman Franks brought in the crafty left-hander Bill Henry to face Chuck Hiller. Wes Westrum called Hiller back and put up Ron Swoboda who hit a 3-run game-winning homer.

I was 9 years old and this is the day I became a Mets fan. I sat with my dad and brother on the 3rd base mezzanine and just remember the home run and crowd excitement as we left the stadium.

Ron Swoboda's walkoff home run is featured in the opening sequence of "Mets Yearbook 1966" on SNY.

I was 12 years old and my dad took me to this game. With Marichal pitching it looked like another Met loss on that hot midweek afternoon. The roar of the crowd as Swoboda connected still gives me chills up my spine. Up there with all the games I have attended as pure excitement.

My father took me to one game a year starting in 1963 when I was 9. This year it was my father, myself and my best friend who was a huge Giants fan. I was quite disappointed when my favorite player Ron Swoboda was not in the starting lineup. Things got even worse as my friend kept reminding me how great Marichal was as he retired the 1st 17 batters of the game. Down 6-1 in the middle of the 8th with Marichal on the mound there was no reason to have even a glimmer of hope. I have always believed that what happened from the point on was a gift to me from God. It still ranks as one the greatest days of my life and for me the greatest baseball game of all time.

Sat in the upper deck for this night game. Marichal vs. Fat Jack Fisher. 1-1 top of 9th, Mays leading off third, Grote tries to pick him off. need I say more other than the final score was 2-1 Giants.

My first ballgame. A few recollections: Mays triples and scores winning run. Mays makes a diving catch to save the game. Marichal loses his balance and falls during warm-ups from one of his big leg kicks. Oh...and the beginning of lifelong Mets fandom.

I remember this game was like it was yesterday! It was the first game that I ever attended. My dad took me. I was 10 years old, and a huge Ron Hunt fan. I'll never forget how huge Shea looked, and how green the grass was, and how white the ball looked. The only disappointment of the day was that Hunt didn't play. Chuck Hiller played second that day. The Giants pitched 20 game winner Gaylord Perry, but Ribant outdueled him. (From then on, he became my second favorite Met!) It was quite a thrill that day...not only did I get to see my Mets win, but got to see 3 future HOFer's for the Giants. Perry, Mays, and McCovey! I'll never forget it!

The Mets and Giants tied a major league record by combining for eight pinch-hitters in the ninth inning. The Mets used five in the top of the ninth and the Giants used three in the bottom.

Earlier, Willie McCovey hit a 500-foot homer that was thought to be the longest home run ever hit at Candlestick Park.

Larry Miller had the type of game that ends careers, and this one ended his. His last game for the Mets and last game in the Major Leagues. He takes a one run lead into the 9th inning, gets the first two guys out, then the Giants send up Jim Ray Hart as a pinch hitter. Hart had worn out the Mets' pitching that year, with 8 HR's against them up to then. Well, he hit #9 and tied up the game, sending it into extra innings.

Maybe Wes Westrum should have taken a hint, but he didn't. He kept Miller in for the tenth. Mays got on first with a single and then McCovey hit a HR. Giants win 6-4. Listening to the broadcast first time, I didn't know the result before hand, but I guessed what was going to happen. When McCovey got up, I said, "here it comes". It was McCovey's 3rd HR of the game. This game was like one of their 1962 losses, and, sadly for him, it spelled the end of Larry Miller.

Also, it was probably Al Luplow's best day in the majors. He hit two HR's himself, but all for nought. The Mets had 3 HR's, because Ken Boyer also hit one. The wind must have been blowing out in Candlestick that day. Also, future Met Ken Henderson played in this game. I didn't realize he was playing this early on. He must have been a teenager. He didn't do (or play) much for the Mets, but was a pretty good player for the White Sox for a few years. He's one of those guys you think could have been really good, like all-star quality, if he didn't spend half his career on the DL.

Ken Boyer hit into a triple play in the 2nd inning of this game: a liner to pitcher Gaylord Perry who flipped to SS Hal Lanier at 2B who flipped to Williw McCovey at 1B. Tommy Davis and Ed Kranepool was the runners caught off second and first.

Jack Fisher pitched 11.2 innings in the game and then Don Shaw came in to get one out and got credit for the win!

I remember the triple play because I think there was a hit and run on and Perry threw a pitch that Boyer had to reach for outside and low, barely off the ground. Perry made a tremendous catch on it and started the triple play.

This was a nationally televised prime time game on NBC.

This was a big game in Mets history because it was a network game and the nation got a first glimpse at the great Tom Seaver, who pitched a complete game victory.

The biggest highlight was Eddie Kranepool's three-run homer off Bob Bolin in the bottom of the fourth that put the Mets up to stay. In his earlier at bat Krane had almost put one out but was eventually retired. In the fourth he hit a bomb and Shea errupted.

The next morning the back page of the New York Daily News said in a huge headline, "Kranepool HRs Giants, 5-3." I cut it out and still have it to this day, one of my great memories of the early Mets years.

My first time watching Seaver in person. There was an excitement at Shea that night that I had never before felt: Tom Terrific had already made an impact.

The Mets celebrate July 4th by beating Juan Marichal for the first time. Marichal had been 19- 0 against the Mets over their first five and a half years.

I was at this game with my neighbor. I was 10 at the time and his Dad took us. We witnessed Willie McCovey hitting a line drive off the middle of the flag pole in center field at Shea Stadium. I couldn't believe my eyes. The ball was still going up when it hit the pole. Best shot I ever saw. Jim, my neighbor reminded me of this just today. What a great memory!

I was also at the Willie McCovey off the flagpole game

This was the opener of the 1968 season. The season was supposed to open on Tuesday the 9th but Martin Luther King had been assassinated. The reason I remember this game is because it was Gil Hodges' first game as manager. Seaver started against Marichal who the Mets never could get a loud foul off, and they knocked him out but the late Danny Frisella blew it in relief. Reminds me of current times!

The Mets had never won on Opening Day coming into 1968, but this time it looked like they would break the streak.

They jumped out to a 4-0 lead against Juan Marichal, something that seemed impossible given Marichal's dominance over the Mets through the years.

Tommie Agee singled with two outs in the first and stole second, and Ron Swoboada drove him in with a single. Next time up in the third, Swoboda hit a three-run homer and the Mets had a four run lead with Tom Seaver on the mound.

The Giants got an unearned run back in the bottom of the third on a single and two Met errors. Willie McCovey homered leading off the seventh but Tom was still in control, having allowed just three hits through eight innings.

The Mets still led 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth. Willie Mays led off with a single and after McCovey popped out, a passed ball and a Jim Ray Hart single made it 4-3. Gil Hodges went to Danny Frisella but Danny couldn't get an out. Nate Oliver singled to put the tying run in scoring position and the winning run on base, and then Jesus Alou doubled to left bringing in the tying and the winning runs.

I remember being in eighth grade, listening to the game while hanging out with my friends and thinking that the Mets would NEVER win a game on Opening Day!

The home opener, and I worked this game as a vendor. Seemed like a great job at the time. The most memorable thing about this one was that the rookie Koosman loaded the bases with none out in the first inning and then proceeded to strike out the side! I seem to remember the three victims as McCovey, Bonds and Hart.

The 3 Giants who struck out with the bags full were Mays, McCovey and Jack Hiatt, not Jim Ray Hart. Cleon Jones hit a 3 run homer off of Mike Mcormcik as Koosman won. I was at that game, the only Opening day at Shea I ever went to and the only Mets game I went to in 1968, the Year of the Pitcher.

Rookie Koosman became the first Met to ever pitch back-to-back shutouts. The previous week he had shut out the Dodgers 4-0 on the west coast. This win against the Giants was sorely needed after the Mets had lost their previous game 1-0 in 24 innings in the Astrodome.

I also was at this game and remember Koosman loading them up in the first inning and then getting out of it. If you check the box score, the 4, 5, 6 Giant batters were Mays, Hart, and Hiatt (McCovey batted 3rd). Mays struck out, Hart popped up directly over home plate (as Ralph Kiner would say, "he hit a home run in a silo!") and Hiatt struck out. After that, they couldn't touch Koosman that day.

I love comparing memories to the box score. Cleon Jones could have had a hard time hitting a 3 run homer since he had only 1 RBI, Joel.

Now I'll put up my memory, and subject it to testing against hard facts. I'd say this game was a weekday game, played during daylight, because I remember listening to it on a school trip someplace (I was in the 8th grade) and all the excitement as Koosman got the three Giants out in that first inning jam. The whole bus was rocking--I have no idea where we travelled to that day, or what we saw, but I'll take this memory with me to the grave, and anyone passing our bus at that moment must have thought someone had won the World Series from all the noise erupting. One of my warmest Mets' memories (now someone point out how this game was a night game, and played on a Saturday!)

I was in the 4th grade, off from school on Easter break. My dad took me to the game. We sat in the upper deck of a packed Shea, on a warm spring afternoon. First inning was very exciting with Koosman getting out of the bases loaded jam.

After the game my dad took me to Mays Dept. Store and bought me a first baseman's glove.

That day is my favorite father/son memory. Great day for a 9 year old.

Let's Go Mets!

My neighborhood was still packed with Giants fans by 1968. They'd only go out to Shea when the Giants were in town, expecting to see the deserters beat up on the lowly Mets. Then their kids would give me and the other Mets fans a bad time over it. Well, that had usually been the case, but not on this day.

When Jerry Koosman shut out the Giants in that home opener, he became my all-time favorite Met and still is to this day.

As for the Giants fans, well they finally got on board with the Mets after Koosman's 5-hit victory in the final game of the World Series the following year.

First time that the Mets ever won a home opener.

The first Mets game I ever attended. I was 8 years and 1 month old. Sat in first base mezzanine. Went with my dad. It was Passover. We cheated and had ice cream. I’ll never forget how the players looked on the field. I would give anything for one more day at Shea Stadium with my dad.

Don Cardwell hit one of his three Met homers in this game to give the Mets the lead, but he later blew the lead and lost the game.

First game of a four-game series against the Giants, and a full house at Shea. Jerry Koosman pitches a complete game and is now 10-2. The Mets improve to 28-29, but they would never reach .500 this season.

Jerry Buchek hit a three-run homer in the third to give the Mets a 5-0 lead. That homer came four batters after the first home run of Don Bosch's career.

The Mets had seven hits off Mike McCormick in the first 2.1 innings and coasted to the win.

First major league game I ever went to, and it was Marichal vs. Seaver. What a matchup! I'll never forget it.

I was 14. My brother took me from Massachusetts in his 1940 Olds. What I remember most is that it was an incredible matchup between Tom Seaver and Juan Marichal. Wow! To say I saw this game. The greatest memories were of seeing Willie Mays hit a home run and the next inning see Willie McCovey hit a line drive over the center field fence at 410 feet that must have cleared it by at least 80 feet. Those and Marichals windup and leg kick, still vivid memories.

I was at this game. Marichal vs Seaver. Who would’ve thought there would be a combined 31 hits? And Marichal pitches a COMPLETE GAME 16 hitter? Come on man!!!!

My first major league game. I am a life long Yankees fan, but I was in New York for a family function and my brother-in-law said the Mets were in town. Shea was new and he convinced me to go to Shea because there were no obstructed views. He arranged for the tickets and wouldn't you know it are seats were right behind the right field Foul pole. So much for unobstructed view. I write this on the day we all lost Willie Mays.

If memory serves me well this was a Friday night game that I attended with a bunch of kids from Broad Channel Day Camp, a camp outing! Think it was Bobby Bolin vs Koosman. The game went into extra innings and we had to leave because the bus charter did not include overtime.

Reluctantly, we left after the 8th. If I am correct, Jim Davenport hit a home run to win it. I think that in 1967, Davenport also ended a 17 inning affair with a longball.

In 1968, Koosman tied a rookie record with 7 shutouts. All these years, I always thought back to this game and how he rightly should hold the record of 8 all by himself. The '68 Mets, unfortunately, were not exactly an "offensive juggernaut". But that's OK Koos, we'll always know you as the guy who won the big one for the Miracle Mets!

I remember watching this game forty years ago. Frank Linzy pitched five shutout innings. He threw the heaviest sinker I've ever seen. He wore glasses and I called him Santa Claus for some reason or other. The Mets just kept hitting one weak grounder after another during his stint on the mound. A very efficient business-like relief appearance by Mr. Linzy.

My Dad and I took the train into Grand Central from New Haven for this game, meeting my cousin and his brother-in-law at Shea. When the game headed toward extra innings we made the decision to stay the night with family in Brooklyn and watch the end. Who knew it would last 17 innings? I remember Willie Mays walking but no hits. And I remember the Mets putting up no offense at all. Shea was crowded, though. Looking back on stats, amazing how long the starters lasted in those days. The seemingly endless game, the laughs, and the time with Dad and family, still burns in my memory.

First Met game I ever went to. Sat way up in left field upper deck with my Dad and kid brother on a warm August afternoon. The ball park was jammed for that weekday afternoon game. Mays and McCovey always filled the park in those days. I remember the traffic jam coming into the park being backed up all the way to Linden Blvd, and the never-ending stream of scalpers on the side of Whitestone Expressway. Marichal pitched, and I can still see his high kick way way down there on the pitcher's mound. Mays hit HR 580 that day. McCovey and Jim Ray Hart, I believe, added HRs for SF. I recall Larry Stahl hitting a line drive HR into the left field bullpen. Maybe I'm getting old, but somehow, the sky seemed bluer then, the grass greener, the uniforms whiter. Shea was Oz.

Further to Mook's post of Janaury 2004, the Giants got homers on this day from Jim Ray Hart (leading off the second), Willie Mays (in a six-run fifth inning) and Jack Hiatt (in the eighth; he had replaced McCovey with the score 11-2 in the seventh inning. Larry Stahl did homer in the third to tie the score at 1-1, and a J. C. Martin single gave the Mets a 2-1 lead after three.

The Giants scored ten runs and had thirteen hits in the fifth and sixth innings alone!

Juan Marichal pitched a complete game for his 23rd win despite allowing twelve hits, but four of them were in the fourth inning and three more came in the ninth.

Doesn't anyone remember that there was a bomb scare during this game? Both teams ran out of the dugouts on to the field. It scared the heck out of my grandmother who was charged with taking me, an 8-year-old Met nut to the game. Thanks, Grandma. I remember there were still lots of Giant fans in NY at that time and Willie Mays got big cheers anytime he came up.

This is the first game I remember attending. My older brother was a huge Giants fan and my father took us to the game. We were in Standing Room and there was not one complaint.

My most vivid recollections was the absolutely beautiful weather, Marichal's high kick and the great Willie Mays throwing out Bud Harrelson at home.

My dad took packed me and about 7 friends into the family station wagon to see this classic game. McCovey homered early off Seaver and Mets trailed 3-1 heading to bottom/7th inning. Swoboda knocked in one run, Rod Gaspar hit his only major league homer and Duffy Dyer delivered a pinch-hit RBI single in the bottom/8th to decide it. It was victory #3 in important 11-game winning streak.

This was a memorial day ballgame. McCovey drills a Seaver fastball almost over the scoreboard. The ball hit somewhere near the Mets posted lineup. Agee looked up and waved at it, never moved a muscle. Why bother? Willie Mac received 45 free passes that year, at the time a major league record. Barry gets that much in a 4 game series!

This is the game that turned Tug McGraw's career around. Tug struck out Met killers Willie Mays and Willie McCovey to preserve the win. The Mets first learned how to win during this homestand sweeping the California teams. I still say that THIS was a key game changing the attitudes of both the Mets and the Met fans! McGraw gained newfound confidence and went on to have his best year in his career up to that point.

It was this game. Ed Charles drove all four runs for the Mets.

My first MLB game! I was 11 and my dad took me. Stepping into an opening in the stands and seeing that field and scoreboard in real life was amazing! We had seats in the left field upper deck that obscured the left field corner. It was hot and I was feeling queasy with the view. My dad took me down to a ticket window and I saw him fold two dollar bills under our tickets and slide them to the ticket guy and say, "do you have anything better?" We ended up in the mezzanine down the 3B line, much better seats.

I made a sign, "McAndy is a Dandy" for starter Jim McAndrew but as you can see from the boxscore, he didn't last long. It was thrilling to see Mays and McCovey on the visiting Giants and #44 didn't disappoint with a round-tripper. I also saw him pull a screamer foul down the 1B line and a gloved hand reached out from the stands to snag it.

I saw a rare triple from a catcher with Jerry Grote connecting (years later I saw one of Ron Hodges' two lifetime triples).

Even though I was a Mets fan I never wanted one of their caps because everyone had one. I was more interested in other teams' uniforms so I got my dad to buy me an orange Astros cap. In later games, I got an Expos and Padres hat. I can still recall the sight of that souvenir stand with all the NL caps stacked up.

It was quite an unusual ending to the game with Ron Swoboda walking in the winning run in the 9th. My dad wanted to leave early to beat traffic but I begged him to stay. For his sake, I'm glad it didn't go into extra innings! We went to other games that season and it wasn't until years later that I figured out why we never went to games with Seaver or Koosman on the mound - my dad didn't want to deal with the traffic from a sellout crowd! Good times...

Pete, thanks for sharing your experience of attending this game with your dad. Great story. As you described, it ended when Ron Swoboda walked with the bases loaded to force home the winning run. When looked at historically, Swoboda's base-on-balls isn't so unusual since it was the third of four times in Ron's career that he drew a walk-off walk in the bottom of the ninth inning. The victory gave the Mets a series sweep over the Giants during an eleven-game win streak that propelled them into contention for the championship they would eventually conquer.

The Giants had won five in a row coming into this contest at Candlestick Park. Their record stood at 29 and 23, three games behind the first place Braves. A Tuesday night crowd of just 6,038 showed up to see veteran journeyman Don Cardwell of the Mets take on lefty Mike McCormick.

The home team got on board first in the third inning when Bobby Bonds tripled home McCormick. The Mets scored a run in the fourth, a run in the fifth, two in the sixth and broke it open with four in the seventh. The big blow was a three run shot by Mets first baseman Cleon Jones off reliever Ron Herbel.

The Giants scored three in the ninth but it was too little too late. The Mets who eventually caught and passed the collapsing Cubs, won 9-4.

This was the culmination of an eleven game winning streak that got fans believing that the Mets were real contenders. The Mets went into the streak 18-23 in 4th place and with this win were 29-23 solidly in 2nd place seven games out. The first seven wins were at Shea but then the Mets won four more on the West Coast. The Mets finally lost their next game in San Francisco.

This was a fantastic game!!! Me and my boys from Harlem went to this one; it was a hot August night game...and (here's the best part!) WE BEAT THE GREAT JUAN MARICHAL ON A 14TH INNING HOMERUN BY TOMMIE AGEE!!! That's right--Juan Marichal pitched ALL 14 INNINGS for the Giants!!! He had excellent stuff that night, as he struck out a slew of Mets. He had either some kind of sinker or other breaking pitch going that night--because I remember the Mets swinging and missing on a lot of pitches that ended up being caught low by the catcher.

But that '69 team was a team of destiny, y'all...and Mr. Agee took care of "the whole ball of wax" with one swing in the bottom of the 14th!!!

Cleon leaped over the fence to take a homer away from McCovey to set up Agee's blast in the 14th to win the game for the Mets.

Due to a series of strange circumstances I wound up with six mezzanine box seat tickets to this game in back of home plate. We invited my grandfather, a pure Met fan, but he didn't want to go because Marichal was pitching and he knew the Mets would lose. My uncle convinced him to go anyway. As Charles above described it he seems to have a pretty good memory about the game. There were some gentlemen sitting a few rows in front of us who were passing $20 and $50 bills back and forth all night betting on every pitch Marichal threw. Gentry and McGraw stopped the Giants. Cleon did leap over the fence, but he also didn't quite catch the ball, but he managed to get his glove under the ball after he stopped it over his head, he caught the ball while he and the ball were coming down in a four man McCovey outfield! Of course Agee hit the home run off starter Marichal in the 14th! Lucky for us fans that night the Met pitchers went 14 innings without allowing a run. All the Met fans went home happy the following morning (1 a.m. or so), especially my grandfather.

At the time I was a Giants/Mets fan and Marichal was my absolute hero. We sat near the third base bag and were treated to a gem as Gentry and Dandy hooked up.

I think Marichal struck out the side in the 12th inning and looked like he could go all night if need be before Agee caught up with one for a game ending blast.

You'll never see a pitcher go 13 innings any more, this I promise you!

This was the first Met game I ever went to. It was my 6th birthdady and we stayed for the entire game!!!

Amazing game -- even more so in this day and age.

As with almost all Shea games in the 60's, I was sitting in the Mezz level down the 3rd base line. Had even worse seats that year for Seaver's imperfect game. What a year!

Marichal's (or Gentry's!) double-digit innings perrformance could never happen in the current era.

Extra comment (I posted above) -- Thanks to ultimateMets.com new Walkoff Wins and Losses I now know that the home run by Agee was the first home run in Mets history to produce a 1-0 walkoff victory.

I remember sitting in the upper deck on the first base side. We couldn't believe Marichal kept coming out to pitch inning after inning. The 10th, 11th and so on. Strange, I remember having on a yellow windbreaker and being chilly up there. Wonder if it was windy since it was in usually hot August?

I was also at this game. I was 10 years old. One amazing thing was that my old man let us stay and watch till the very end was past midnight. I think he sensed we were watching history. The best game I ever saw. Agee, Jones, McGraw McCovey and Marichal were larger than life. Will never forget that Willie Mays played in this one too.

From where we were sitting somewhere high up on the first base side, I saw Agee's homer bounce on the TOP of the wall and go over the other side. Does anyone else remember that point?

This was the first baseball game I ever went to! In the 13th inning, my dad squeezed my hotdog full mustard and it shot out of the bun like a missile, plopped over the railing and down, landing all over the gentleman in front of us! We had tears in our eyes, trying not to laugh! So, in the bottom of the 14th inning, Dad, still wanting that hotdog, sent me to the concession stand and, while waiting on line, Shea Stadium absolutely erupted with cheers. “What happened?! I asked someone what happened and he joyously screamed, “Tommie Agee hit a HOMERUN!!” It was 0-0 the whole game - I missed it, didn’t see the home run and, I never got that hotdog!

I was there as an excited 10 yr old. Sat in the upper deck first base side. What I remember is during that 14th inning walking down to the lower level and watching Agee hit the home from behind home plate. Back then they had not closed off that area or put the screens up, so you could see the game by standing in that area. I found the NY TIMES box score, game ran 3 hours and 44 min, which means it was just before midnight with the 8:05 start time.

This night marked the first time I ever witnessed our heroes emerge victorious at the big Shea. McAndrew pitched more like Christy Mathewson on this early August Eve as he proceeded to make Mays and Stretch Mcovey look more like Abbott and Costello. Agee and Jones dialed eight on that shameless Disciple of saliva Gaylord Perry and I made a solemn promise to BIGSTRO Sr. to never name any boy of mine Gaylord . All in all it was another magical summer evening in a summer that was abundant with magical summer evenings and an indescribeable thrill for a curly haired Sicilian kid from Greenwich Village.

One correction to Bigstro's earlier post on this game: the only Mets homer this night was by Art Shamsky, a three-run shot in the bottom of the fifth. Art also drove in the first Mets run with a first inning double.

Tommie Agee did single to drive in a run for the Mets.

One of the best Mets games I ever saw, although they lost. It was a thriller. All I remember is Dave Marshall making a circus catch in LF for the Giants. He later came to the Mets. Also, I remember looking at the World Trade Center going up across the Hudson from my Dad's office in Jersey City before we left for Shea. That's now a very sad memory, of course.

I was at this game - and the one the next night too. Big thrill for a 12-year old. What I remember is: 1) Willie Mays not playing - big disappointment. 2) Bonds hitting the two home runs - he was hyped as a coming star. 3) Seaver not pitching to form - also disappointing. But what the heck - a great game. I also thought that McCovey hit a home run too, but the box does not show that. Oh well, advancing age.

This was the first major league game I ever saw - I recently found the scorecard and ticket stub to learn the date. I was 10 and Tom Seaver was my favorite so my father tried to pick the day in the rotation that Seaver would start. I remember him not pitching well. I also remember that Ron Swoboda had a good game which shows in the box score. My memory was that Swoboda tied the game to send it to extra innings. I also remember being very disappointed that they lost.

Jim Z, you are correct...Swoboda had an RBI single as the Mets put together a two-out rally in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game.

The Giants won it in the eleventh when 39-year- old reliever Don McMahon singled and came around to score on a two-out triple by Ken Henderson.

Tom Seaver gave up a leadoff homer in the second to Bobby Bonds, and then Bobby took him deep again with two on and two out in the seventh to give the Giants a 6-2 lead.

The Mets rallied for three in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI double by Bobby Pfiel and a two- run single by Tommie Agee, who had also homered in the first to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. But the Mets left two men on in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings and could not push the winning run across. In fact, the Mets had ten of their fourteen hits in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings.

I was 14 and went to see the game with my friend Peter. We were hanging out by the left field foul pole in the 7th inning when Bobby Bonds hit his two-run home run against Seaver. I caught the ball! Wish I could see the video of that home run.

Great finish. Tying run on first, Bob Burda with one out. Willie McCovey up, and Hodges puts on the McCovey shift moving the outfield to the right field side. McCovey slices a fly ball down the vacated left field line and just falls in fair. Burda tries to score all the way from first and Rod Gaspar retrieves the ball and throws out Burda at the plate. Jerry Grote, thinking it was the 3rd out, rolled the ball toward the mound, McCovey tried to take 3rd and Donn Clendenon picked up the ball and threw to Bobby Pfiel for the out that ended the inning and the threat.

Actually, I think the incident described above happened two days later in a game they eventually lost. In any event, I recall Clendendon hitting the winning homer in the top of the 10th in this one.

Just to clear up some earlier postings on this game, Jim Madden's description of McCovey's double and Grote rolling the ball back to the mound with two outs did indeed take place in this game, Saturday afternoon, August 30.

This wild play happened in the bottom of the ninth with the score tied. Then the Mets came up in the tenth, and as Johnmn55 recalled, Donn Clendenon hit a two-out home run off Gaylord Perry, and Tug McGraw pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the tenth for the win.

The Mets turned exciting double plays in two consecutive innings of this game. With one out in the bottom of the eighth, Jim Davenport popped out to second baseman Ken Boswell with the bases loaded. Boswell then made a throw that hit Giants' first base coach Wes Westrum. Donn Clendenon picked up the ball (still in play) and threw it to Jerry Grote for an out at home on Ken Henderson to end the inning.

With Bob Burda on first base the ninth, Willie McCovey hit a one-out double to left field. Rod Gaspar fielded the ball and made a long throw to Grote that caught Burda trying to score. After Grote sent the ball back to the mound, McCovey broke for third. Clendenon got it and threw to Bobby Pfeil to nail McCovey for another inning-ending double play that included an out at the plate.

Clendenon connected for a home run in the top of the tenth to give the Mets the victory. Even with Gaspar's amazing throw that cut off the winning run, it was Donn who became the ultimate hero with his heads-up fielding and clutch slugging.

I was 7 years old and my dad, a lifelong Giants fan, would take my brothers and me to the games at Candlestick Park and we would sit in the right field bleachers for 99 cents. My dad with glove on and his boys would stand in the open area in front of the bleachers behind the right field fence when a big hitter like McCovey, Mays, or Clendenon came up in hopes of catching a home run ball. I remember vividly the Clendenon home run going over the fence and the ball coming off my dad’s glove and I scampering after and retrieving it as I excitedly held it up to the crowd. My dad wrote the game score and date on it and home run Donn Clendenon. I still have the ball and a cherished memory of my dad.

Dave Marshall connected for his first home run as a Met in this game. It was a first-inning grand slam that set the tone for a win at San Francisco. Marshall's slam came in his first time at bat against the Giants after being traded from them the previous winter. He wasted no time in taking revenge on his former team!

After 3 straight games on the bench due to their struggles at the plate, the trio of Tommie Agee, Cleon Jones and Joe Foy all come back strong as the Mets win the rubber game at San Francisco. Agee homered, Jones had two singles and an RBI, and Foy went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and a pair of stolen bases, giving Nolan Ryan all the support he'd need in another strong showing at the start of the 1970 season.

Despite tying a season-high with 8 walks, Ryan went the distance. He only allowed 3 hits, and the lone run he surrendered was on an RBI groundout by Bobby Bonds. He also struck out 8, and is one of only 2 Mets pitchers to tally 8 walks and 8 Ks in the same game. Jerry Koosman also did it in 1975. I highly doubt another Mets pitcher will ever do it again.

Also on this date, Billy Williams played in his 1,000th consecutive game during the Cubs/Braves game. Lindsey Nelson and Ralph Kiner brought it up and made mention of Lou Gehrig's all-time record of 2,130, remarking how that was probably one of baseball's records that will never be broken. Cal Ripken Jr. was only 9 years old at the time but was destined to break it 25 years later.

My first Met game! My Dad and Mom got me tickets for my birthday. We sat in the loge section on the first base side.

I remember bobby bonds hitting an inside-the-park homer, and Willie Mays hitting 1 or 2 HRs.

Other tidbits: There was an anti-war protest in the first inning near where Gentry was pitching. The two protesters were removed from the field pretty quickly. Also, the Knicks won the NBA championship that night, which got a big hand when it was flashed on the scoreboard.

Bobby Bonds had an inside-the-park homer leading off the eighth inning off Don Cardwell. Willie Mays hit two outside-the-park homers off starter Gary Gentry, who suffered his first loss of the 1970 season.

Giants RHP Miguel Puente picked up the first--and only--win of his major league career. It was also his first--and only--complete game. Puente lost his shutout on an eighth inning homer by Ken Boswell. Puente finished his career with a record of 1-3 and an ERA of 8.20 in 18.2 innings.

Biggest highlight of this game was when the scoreboard flashed that NY Knicks had defeated the LA Lakers for NBA Championship.

I remember watching this game on TV. My father was at this game. He was going to take me to the game, but he took my sister instead. That was ok with me.

I remember going to City Island to eat seafood and coming home to watch this on TV with the sound off. My father's rules that night. Stay off the radio and DON'T tell him the Knicks game 7 score. All of his cop friends came over to watch the NYK LAL game 7 that night at 1130 on tape delay on ABC channel 7 with Chris Schenkel and Jack Twyman.These cops were degenerate gamblers but to a man they did not spill the beans and watched the game as if it was live. Incredible. The Mets did show the score on the scoreboard and I knew already but kept my mouth shut. Even though it was a Friday my mother would have sent me to bed at the age of 8 instead of hang out with the adults. Geez...

First Mets game I ever attended -- with a busload of other high school kids from Katonah, NY; several of of the guys got sick-drunk on Rheingold Beer at the park. Beautiful Saturday afternoon -- a day after the Knicks' big NBA championship victory. Big crowd -- I think it was also a Game of the Week on NBC.

I went to this game with two other friends. The Mets really kicked butt in this game. Art Shamsky I think hit a couple of HR's and Dave Marshall who came over from the Giants in the winter trade of 1969 along with Ray Sadecki had 2 or 3 hits.

Joel, kicked butt is right! The Mets pounded out 15 hits and drew 11 walks in this game!

The score was tied 4-4 when the Mets scored eight runs in the bottom of the 5th, sending fourteen men to the plate with nine hits and two walks. Ironically, both walks were by Joe Foy, and two of the outs in the inning came on Duffy Dyer strikeouts. Dyer was called out on strikes for the first and third outs of the inning.

Art Shamsky had only one home run in the game, but he also had a single and a double (both the single and double came in the 8-run inning), drove in 3 runs and scored twice. Dave Marshall had three singles and drove in four runs. Bud Harrelson also had 3 hits and Joe Foy and Tommie agee each walked three times.

My first game ever at Shea. My dear father took me and we sat in the Mezzanine on the first base side. Remember how amazing it was to see the Mets score 14 runs against a very good Giants team. Lived in The Bronx, but my Dad was a National League guy, so I became a Mets fan. Thanks Dad for all the wonderful hours we spent watching ballgames together.

It's Mother's Day at Shea and the 36,000-plus in attendance are treated to a pitching matchup between two future Hall of Famers, Juan Marichal and Nolan Ryan.

Of course, the final score is 11-7!

The Giants bang out 14 hits, and Ryan leaves with one out in the fourth, allowing seven runs and seven hits plus two walks.

The Mets also knock Marichal around for six runs and seven hits in the first three innings, including homers by Shamsky, Garrett, and Clendenon. But Marichal settles down and allows just one run and three hits the rest of the way for a complete game victory---his first win of the season---despite allowing seven runs, ten hits, and the three homers.

Willie McCovey had a two-run homer in the third off Ryan, then had a fourth inning grand slam off Tug McGraw.

I can still picture Clendenon's soaring homer. But what made the game memorable for us was that it was Mother's Day: as I remember, the Mets gave women, at the gate, batting helmets with plastic flowers on the top. I don't know how we got my step-mother there, but her resentment about it lasted until Labor Day. Until finding this excellent site, I remembered her scowl and all the homers but not the starting pitchers, or that the McCovey grand slam was off McGraw.

My mom was supposed to take me to the game the day before but we had unexpected company and couldn't go. Seeing how disappointed I was she promised to take me the next day (this game) which was Mother's Day!

The two things that stand out to me in this game were a screaming line drive grand slam over the right field auxiliary scoreboard hit by Willie McCovey. To this day I think it was the hardest hit ball I ever saw!

The second thing is Nolan Ryan started the game. At the time who knew what future greatness we were looking at!

Also looking back I realize the sacrifice my mom made taking me to Shea on Mother's Day as she wasn't really a baseball fan. She did receive a straw Mets hat as the Mother's Day giveaway which was promptly chewed up by our dog Sandy!

Went to grandma's for Mothers Day and had a tough time watching this since my cousin kept putting on Bobby Orr and the Bruins Cup win. By the time I got the TV my aunts were watching the Yanks out West. Puerto Rican household but at the age of 8 I can recall looking at the sky and saying Oy Vey.

My first Mets' game! My first game ever was in 1969, where I saw the Yankees at the Stadium play the Royals. Yanks won, 3-2. I remember seeing Joe Pepitone in the parking lot with his shirt unbuttoned down to his fly, and his hairy chest. Meanwhile he had a girl on each arm. Someone asked him for an autograph, and he said he'd be back in two minutes. He of course never came back.

But I digress. I became a Met fan instead of a Yankee fan because I was under the impression that the National League was superior to the American League. They still call it the junior curcuit, right? Anyway, Seaver went all the way in this one. And Joe Foy and Cleon Jones hit back-to-back home runs. What a great way to begin my fandom!

Joe Foy and Cleon Jones both homered in this game but Foy's was a two-run shot with two outs in the bottom of the second, and Jones hit his leading off the bottom of the fourth.

Seaver pitched a complete game, giving up six hits, including a Bobby Bonds homer, and four walks. He struck out six, including ringing up Willie Mays three times.

Donn Clendenon set a club record with seven RBIs. He had a sac fly in the first, and three-run homers in the third and fourth.

Bud Harrelson was 3-for-3 with 3 runs scored and 2 RBIs.

The win leaves the Mets in second place, one game behind the Pirates in the NL East.

This was the first baseball game I went to as a child (9 years old) with my Dad and sister. I remembered the score and of course Clendenon's two 3-run home runs. A very fond memory for me. I forgot that Jim McAndrew pitched that night - a nice complete game.

I remember watching this game on TV as a kid. The Mets were trailing the whole night before Dave Marshall tied it up with a 2-run homer. What sticks in my mind most, though, is how they lost it in the tenth. Tug McGraw threw a pitch that bounced right over Jerry Grote's head! Jerry ran back to get the ball, but he couldn't find it. Tug went back to help, but had no luck. Meanwhile, the runner on second base came all the way around to score. A tough-luck loss!

I was at this game with my dad and we were rooting for the Giants. In the bottom of the ninth several fans were headed to the exit and my father asked them where are you going? They replied that the game was lost and they were going to beat the traffic, to which my dad said: “Don’t leave yet, Dave Marshall is going to tie it up with a 2-run homer” they continued to walk past us and on the next pitch Dave Marshall tied it up with a 2-run homer. Those fans scrambled back to their seats in jubilation and looked at my dad as if he was some mystic. I had mixed emotions. I was amazed that he called it, but crushed to see the game get tied up. The Giants won it in the tenth on one of the most memorable plays I’ve ever witnessed. Tug McGraw was on in relief and Hal Lanier was taking a short lead off of 2b. McGraw threw a wild pitch and Lanier scored all the way from second to give the Giants the go ahead run. And the Giants ending up winning it in 10 innings. I became a Mets fan the following year when my hero Willie Mays was traded from the Giants to the Mets. But this was a game that will never be forgotten because if the dramatic game trying 2-run homer by Dave Marshall (a former Giant!) and the incredible base running of Hal Lanier scoring from second base on a wild pitch.

I remember how ecstatic I was when Marshall tied this up watching on tv. He had gone hitless in 28 at bats according to the NY Times site map. Grote had called for screwball but instead got Tug's fastball which sailed over his glove while Lanier scored from 2nd. Hodges got bounced arguing that a fan interfered to no avail.

This is one of the first Mets games I attended. Juan Marichal with the unforgettable leg kick is pitching for the Giants. Ken Singleton hits one of the longest home runs in Shea history off the middle of the scoreboard in right center. Unbelievable shot! Does anybody else remember this?

I also attended this game, 18 days before my 11th birthday. I remember it being a gray, cloudy day and a rain delay, but I can't say when or how long.

At 9 years old, this was the first baseball game I ever attended. My brother and I won the tickets by getting new subscribers for our paper route. We took a bus ride from the suburbs of NJ to Shea Stadium along with a group of other paper carriers.

I remember seeing the Shea Stadium field from the stands for the first time and being awestruck by the sight of it. The seats were way up in the upper deck, but if my memory serves me correctly, I believe Koosman struck out Willie Mays 3 times in this game.

I have been a Mets fan ever since.

This was my first Met game at Shea too. I was 8 and lived on Staten Island. My 17-year-old sister and I took the ferry and then the subway out to Shea. We got tickets at the game, which in 1971 meant you were in the upper deck, though we were directly behind home plate, which wasn't bad.

From that high up behind the action, though, it looked to my inexperienced eyes like every fly ball and pop-up was coming our way!

I remember Koosman pitching very well; I don't remember him striking out Willie Mays three times, but I recall being very excited that I was actually seeing Willie (about whom my mother, an old New York Giants fan, used to talk about endlessly) in the flesh.

I DO have a clear recollection that Ed Kranepool hit a three-run homer in the middle innings.

To clear up some confusion on some earlier posts about this game...

Jerry Koosman did pitch very well, giving up just one run (on the fifth homer of rookie Dave Kingman's career) and three hits while striking out eight, including fanning Willie Mays three times.

Ed Kranepool hit a homer in the fourth inning, but it was a solo homer leading off. The Mets did score three times in the inning thanks in part to two passed balls by Dick Dietz. Gaylord Perry was the starter and loser for the Giants. And the fact that Perry was pitching explains the two passed balls!!

Kingman's drive, 500-foot homer off Jerry Koosman landed on the roof of a bus parked behind the left field bullpen.

It was the bus that got us back home to Brooklyn after the game and many doobs. The bus driver appeared to be as loose as we were!

My hero was Tom Terific my dad remained a Willie Mays, Giant fan for life. This one featured Tom striking out Bonds 4 times, a feat that was okay considering Bonds was a strikeout kind of guy, but he also struck out the center fielder, Maddox, 4 times. With his short stroke that was quite a feat. Seaver, knee dirty and hopping to the grass in front of the mound was awesome. On the knees on the black rising into the strike zone and curve tight modest break starting on the black and breaking 2 inches off on the right handers. Willie was no factor; Seaver dominated.

I was outside my house when a neighborhood friend, who was watching this game on TV, told me that Bud Harrelson had just hit a home run. I had trouble believing him because I was convinced that it was something Harrelson just didn't do. I tuned in later and heard Lindsey Nelson say that Bud had, indeed, homered. I was sorry I missed it. A home run by Harrelson was even more rare than a no-hitter or a triple play. He only came up with one every two to three years.

How often does a pitcher pitch a two-hitter where both of the hits he allows are triples? It happened at Candlestick this day. Gary Gentry gave up leadoff triples in the fourth and ninth innings, both to Bobby Bonds. Gentry gets the complete game victory, 4-2 as Cleon hits a homer.

This was the first game Willie Mays was in uniform for the Mets. The Mets had completed the trade with the Giants earlier in the week. I was at the game with my dad, who died 2 months later, one of the last games he and I went to. I remember when John Milner came out of the dugout, everyone mistook him for Willie and gave him a standing ovation, until they saw it was number 28, not number 24.

This was my first MLB game in person and is probably the reason I am still a fan. I was just 11 at the time and I can still remember the excitement of the game. I know who Mays was and the significance of the game. I wish he had played.

This was the day the Giants retired Willie Mays' number 24. Why did they pick this day, while he was still an active player? And why this day, when the Giants were at Shea Stadium? Couldn't they wait till July when they went to Candlestick park? Or maybe they did both? I don't really remember. I was 10 years old.

This was Buzz Capra's finest day as a Met. He pitched eight scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and got his second major league win. Capra provided his own support with a single that drove home Cleon Jones for the game's only run. It was Buzz's only RBI of his three seasons with the team.

I wasn't at this game, but I sure do remember it! This was the day that Willie Mays returned to New York as a member of the Mets! As a kid I had heard about what a great ballplayer Willie Mays was and even though I heard people talking about Willie's age, I figured a great baseball player was a great baseball player! Who cared how old he was? He's the "Say Hey Kid"! And what a fitting return. Against his former team, Willie hit a HR that gave the Mets a 5-4 win. Of course, Willie's age DID matter and many thought he stayed too long when he hung around for the 1973 campaign.

I recorded this game off the TV with my tape recorder. When Willie hit that HR, Ralph exclaimed, "There's a drive to left! Going back, and gone!" You can hear me in the background, yelling for my dad. Then when Willie came up the next time, Lindsey said "If you've been a Met fan since 1962 when they won only 40 games, just the sight of Mays in a uniform that says 'Mets' across the front of it, has got to do something for you."

Fran Healy, current Mets broadcaster, was catching that day for the Giants.

One more thing about this game: the Giants' starter was former Cleveland fireballer "Sudden" Sam McDowell. Sam, who was kind of the Nolan Ryan of his day (lots of walks and strikeouts), walked the first three batters in the game (Mays, Harrelson, Agee) and then Rusty hit a grand slam. McDowell then struck out Cleon, Fregosi, and Teddy Martinez to end the first inning. Four runs, one hit, three walks, three strikeouts!

I was at this game with my father. I was 15 and I remember Rusty's grand slam. We sat down the left field line and when Willie hit the home run it was during a slight drizzle of rain and the ball was a line drive over the left field fence. Never will forget it!

I was at my grandparents apartment in Manhattan watching the game. I still remember jumping up and down when I saw that line drive clear the left field wall. Willie was finally home again. I was glad to see probably his last dramatic moment in an illustrious career and share it with my grandfather who always called him the greatest player ever.

I was at this game with my father and I remember Rusty Staub's grand slam after Sam McDowell walked the bases loaded. Also Tito Fuentes went 4 for 4 that day. I Remember when Willie came up to bat in the 5th inning my saying, "Come on Willie, hit one off the bullpen cart" which if I remember he just missed it. Great game. Never will forget it.

This was the first game I had ever been to. I was 5 years old. I don't remember the game details any more than I remember the Mets won. What I do remember is the smells: stale beer in the concrete walls, pretzels, hot dogs and the spectacular site of the wonderful green green grass of Shea Stadium. I remembered it rained and a lot of people left. I thought my Dad was the greatest person in the world, cause somehow we went from being in the upper deck (which I thought was great anyway) to being on the field level behind 3rd base. I didn't know how he did it, but he got us as close to game as possible and everything I imagined seeing a baseball game was, came to life.

When Willie got traded to the Mets we were so happy and excited. Then we realized we would be attending his first game as a Met and against of all teams - the Giants. Wow, we were so excited.

I don't remember details of the game except Willie's home run. It was one of the greatest of my Mets moments - including attending Game 5 in '69. He just blasted a shot into the mezzanine seats in left field. The place went nuts. The Mets won thanks to Willie. It was perfect.

I was at this game as a nine year old. When we bought the tickets before the season we had no idea it would Willie Mays's first game as a Met, and he would hit the game-winning home run. What no one has mentioned is the bizarre sequence of the bottom of the first inning. It went: walk, walk, walk, grand slam, strike out, strike out, strike out. I'll bet anything that sequence has never happened in a major league game, let alone in the first inning.

Mothers day at abuelita's. All the men cheering one of New York's most eligible bachelors Staub's grand slam. I tell you even at 10 years old that made me sick when Murphy used to say that lol. The frustration of Tito Puentes homer then the explosion of joy for Mays homer. Nice memory. Yeah I know it's Fuentes lol...

This was the game.. This was when I really knew that the 1972 season was all over, and it wasn't even rock bottom. After looking invincible in May and early June, the Mets were so depleted that the RF tandem in this game was the immortal Ted Martinez and then the great Duffy Dyer. Now I liked Duffy as a player and a catcher, but it was painful watching him lumber around the outfield on this stifling humid July night. I remember he made an error going after a ball essentially tripping over his own feet. I recall that this night was so miserable, I had actually had pain watching the Mets bumble!

I went to this game with my grandmother. We saw Jon Matlack shut out the Giants, 4-0, on a sunny Wednesday afternoon. Jon pitched a 4-hitter and got Willie McCovey on a called third strike for the final out in the ninth.

The only run Jon would need was scored in the first inning when Jim Fregosi hit into a double play with the bases loaded after Sam McDowell had walked the first three batters of the game. Also, Bud Harrelson hit a triple that scored both Wayne Garrett and Matlack in the second inning.

Grandma and I enjoyed every minute of this game. It was a great day to be at Shea!

This was the first baseball game I ever attended. Me and my dad. I was seven years old. I remember seeing the grass for the first time - so green. Most of my memories of this day have faded. But my love for my dad and the Mets have only grown stronger.

This is a great site. I only remembered the final score of the game and our opponent. Now I feel like I have an anniversary that I can share with my family forever.

What a return for Willie Mays! He slugged a two-run homer in his first game back at Candlestick Park since being traded by the Giants. The home run was the difference in the game as the Mets won by two. It was the only time Mays ever homered at "The Stick" as a visiting player.

Listened to this game late at night in Gettysburg, Pa. on my little transistor radio! Seaver was in total command until surrendering two consecutive hits, a double to Tito Fuentes and then a 2 run dinger to Willie McCovey. With the bottom of the order due up, it didn't look good for the Mets and Tom Terrific.....but fortunately, they came through and the Mets pulled the game out, 5-2. I remember having the radio turned about as low as it'd go as it was a school night and I ws supposed to be sleeping!

This was a classic '60s-early '70s pitchers duel, as Kooz went toe-to-toe with Juan Marichal, both guys going the distance before the Mets scratched out the winning run on a 2-out hit in the 10th.

This was Juan Marichal's final appearance against the Mets..and fittingly, he pitched nine scoreless innings.

Fortunately for the Mets, Jerry Koosman pitched ten scoreless innings, and in the bottom of the tenth, Ken Boswell led off with a single. Marichal's long-time teammate Willie Mays followed with a sac bunt (!), and then Felix Millan singled for the only run of the game and a Met victory.

Marichal won his first NINETEEN decisions against the Mets. They didn't beat him until July, 1967.

One interesting sidenote to this game is that it was the Giants' first extra-inning loss of the season after 11 wins! Felix Millan's game- winning single was a shot to left-center field. It probably would have been for extra bases if it wasn't a "walk off" hit.

After Ken Boswell crossed the plate, Karl Earhardt held up a big yellow sign with a picture of Felix the Cat and RRRIIGHTEEEOOO! written across it.

Jerry Koosman pitched a great 10 innings! He even caught Bobby Bonds off first base with a great pick off move. Starting pitchers rarely go this far in games today with bullpens being so prevelent. But on this night, Yogi Berra let Kooz pitch the tenth inning and he got the win he deserved.

I will never forget this game, as it was my first Mets game EVER! Whatta game to see as a 11 yr. old diehard fan.

Gary Matthews hit a foul ball into the stands to lead off the game and Jerry Grote made the catch, however a fan ripped the ball out of Grote's glove. Given a second chance, Matthews got a base hit and later scored the games only run.

Wow-- great job Greg--- After the Moises Alou play last week in Chicago I was telling friends that I once attended a game that I thought was vs SF where a fan took the ball from Grote, and the hitter later became the only runner to score vs Seaver.

As we left that afternoon, there was NO WAY we thought the Mets could make a pennant run.

My memory was right, but you made it easy for me to prove it!!!!

It was the second straight year I saw a 1-0 Mets/Giants game, as Buzz Capra had beaten Marichal in 1972, the day before Willie Mays made his Mets debut.

Yes, that was the game with the foul pop up in the first inning that was taken away from Grote. I remember it well. A tough loss.

I was eight years old at the game with by dad and my younger brother. I had been to two previous games the previous season, both Met losses. The jinx continued. I think Milner hit one deep to center in the ninth that almost tied it

The Mets, who had lost 11 of their first 15 games in 1974, looked good on this night at Candlestick Park.

Felix Millan and Cleon Jones scored in the top of the first thanks to an error by Giants 2B Bruce Miller. The Mets added three more in the third, with the third run of the inning coming on an RBI single by Tom Seaver. Seaver singled again and drove in the Mets' sixth run in the eighth. Tom also pitched a four-hitter, walking none and striking out seven. Seaver retired 16 batters in a row between the fourth and ninth innings, and Tom finished the game by retiring 18 of the last 19 batters he faced.

Tom Seaver was dominant in this game. He pitched a four-hitter with seven strikeouts and no walks for a solid win at Candlestick Park. Seaver even helped his own cause with a pair of RBI singles to boot. The Giants just couldn't handle him all night long.

Here's an amazing fact. This was the fourth time over a five-year span that Tom had a complete game win without issuing a base-on-balls on April 26th. Unlike his previous gems on that date in '70, '71 and '72, this one was a shutout.

I remember this game well. I had just moved to San Francisco from New York three weeks before. When "my team," the Mets, came into town, I went out to Candlestick Park for my first visit. I walked up to the ticket window an hour before the first pitch and bought a box seat about 10 rows behind the Giants' dugout. I was amazed that it was possible to buy such a good seat on game day. It wasn't too far into the game that I realized why I had been so lucky to land such a great seat. There were only about 3,000 people at Candlestick that day! And as the game progressed, it was all Mets....both on the field and in the stands. Of the 3,000 people at the game, at least 2,000 of them were Mets' fans, mostly transplanted New Yorkers like myself. During the 7th inning stretch, I said this is absurd, and I became a Giants fan, right then and there. And I've been a Giants'fan ever since --- it will be 30 years next April!

Jon Matlack held the Giants to four singles, one hit-by-pitch and issued no walks in this doubleheader opener. He faced 30 batters and pitched the first of his league-leading seven shutouts for the 1974 season. Also, Dave Schneck slugged a pair of home runs for his second two-homer game of April. Schneck would hit only one more homer in his major league career.

I remember watching the first game while waiting by the phone. That morning, I had dropped my wife off at the hospital and waited to hear from the doctor whenever she gave birth. It was a rare midweek day doubleheader and I endured both losses and waited even further into the evening before my son, Mark was born.

Tom Seaver lost the first game 4-3 giving up 3 runs in the 8th yet completed the game.

I made this entry on 5/7/2004. My son is 30 years old today. Happy Birthday, Mark.

This was the very first Mets game at Shea Stadium that I attended. My uncle and me took the subway to the game. I bought a batting helmet, yearbook, and I was in seventh heaven. Even though it was a very hot day (about 85 degrees), I proudly wore my batting helmet during the whole game. It's still one of my most favorite memories as a baseball fan even though the Mets lost the game. My uncle passed away a few years later and remembering this day makes me remember him as well. He was a longtime Brooklyn Dodger fan who followed the Mets when they came to town. Whenever I get off the No. 7 train and see the ballpark in the distance, I always remember this day and my uncle. Thanks for helping me share this great memory.

My God, the scary thing is I remember this game like it was yesterday. My mother took me to this game. I made a banner about Rusty Staub, but I was too shy to unveil it at the game. I can close my eyes and still see Teddy Martinez rounding the bases for a triple. We weren't that good that year, but I wouldn't have wanted to be anyplace else.

Ted Martinez got a triple with the bases loaded in the first inning of this game. The ball hit the top part of the wall and all three Mets on base came around to score. Martinez then came too far off third, got caught in a rundown and was tagged out. This was the closest that any Met player has ever come to an inside-the-park grand slam.

Ron Bryant was 24 game winner in ‘73, second to Seaver in the Cy Young award. He didn’t get out of the first inning this game.

I went to this game with my sister and grandparents. It was Camera Day at Shea. Unfortunately, a threat of rain delayed us in getting to the stadium. We had, basically, no time to get any pictures of the players before the game. We did take some during the game, though.

Craig Swan was the starting and winning pitcher. This was not his first major league game, but it was his first one after being recalled from the minors permanantly. He pitched well for over eight innings. Bob Apodaca came on in the ninth to get the save.

In the second inning, Joe Torre's two-run homer put the Mets ahead to stay. He hit it off of Pete Falcone, who would pitch for the Mets with Torre as manager a few years later.

Also, Dave Kingman hit one of his "sky-high" pop ups. Giants' catcher Dave Rader, after waiting (for what seemed like all day) for the ball to come down, dropped it! It popped right out of his glove.

I remember going to this game because it brought the Mets within 3.5 of first, which I believe to be the closest they got in August or September over a dreary 11 season span (year end '73 to '84). My recollection was of Koosman pitching a shutout in this game; but I guess he threw a combined one with Seaver, how unusual.

I was sitting by the third base dugout (Giants side), and Red Garrett was up against Montefusco. Garrett hit a high foul in my direction, close but no cigar. I remember thinking, "That was close, I might get one." The next pitch, bingo, again Garrett was late on the pitch, towering pop up behind the third base dugout, I reached up and caught it. My sole big league put out.

I watched this on TV. Tom Hall had no control and ends up walking in the winning run in the bottom of the 9th, ruining a stellar performance by Koosman. It's one of those games that gives you nightmares as a Mets fan. Everything just unraveled in that 9th inning!

This was the first game of a doubleheader and a great one for the Mets. They had 12 hits and built up a 7-run lead by the fifth inning. Dave Kingman's grand slam against his former team was the biggest highlight. They held on for the win thanks to strong relief pitching from Bob Apodaca.

Alas, this win was forgotten quickly! In the second game, the Mets fell victim to a no-hitter by the Giants' Ed Halicki, trumping all that happened in this first game.

Ed Halicki of the Giants pitched a no-hitter against the Mets in this game. I recall seeing it on TV.

I guess I wasn't aware the Halicki was throwing a no-hitter until the very last out and Halicki was celebrating wildly like he had just won the World Series.

For some reason I recall Halicki walking more people than I see in the box score. (I'm sure the box score is correct!) If I remember correctly, he was getting into some deep counts. There was a point in the game where the Mets had runners on first and second and were threatening, but obviously Halicki got out of that jam.

I recall Rusty Staub beating out a throw by the Giants secondbaseman on a slowly hit groundball that I think he bobbled momentarily. The play was subsequently scored an error. There was some question of whether it should have been scored a hit.

They showed a replay of the Rusty "hit" on the nightly news with the sportscaster (I don't remember who or what station) berating the Mets' offense in the game.

Incidently, I believe this was during Mike Vail's 23-game hitting streak. He was a pinch-hitter in the game and worked out a walk. Because he didn't make an out, the streak was kept intact.

This was the first no-hitter I ever saw. Even though it was against the Mets, I was still excited to see it. It was the second game of a doubleheader. The Mets won the first game, but they couldn't do anything against Ed Halicki, a New Jersey native.

One other thing I remember about this game was Jesus Alou pinch-hitting in the ninth. This appearance gave him and his brothers, Felipe and Matty, a combined total of 5,000 games played. A family milestone was reached, but overshadowed by something bigger.

This was the first no-hitter I saw (albeit on tv) and I recall how hard I was rooting for Wayne Garrett to break it up with two outs in the 9th. I feel he may have hit a loud foul ball before making the final out...

The "last" no-hitter I've seen, was last night. First one in person, and again a seemingly mediocre Giants pitcher turned the trick. I guess I've mellowed as I've gotten older. I wasn't rooting nearly as hard for the Mets to break it up in the 9th...and nothing close to a loud foul ball, just some meek called third strikes.

Watched this game on WOR. It was the first no-hit game I ever saw on TV. Our family was moving to a new house at the end of the month, a few days after this game, so I was helping pack stuff up and had this game on the TV in the background and wasn't paying much attention to it till it got to the late innings and the no-hitter was still going.

My only previous no-hit experience was hearing the last couple of innings of Rick Wise's no-hitter a couple of years before, which we caught on the radio from Philadelphia. I did also watch the famous Tom Seaver almost perfect game vs. the Cubs in 1969.

This doubleheader were the first Mets games I ever attended at age 7. I remember the pitcher hitting an inside-the-park home run in the rain-shortened second game, but it appears it was actually scored a triple and error!

The next year we returned to SF to see another double-header sweep by the Giants and Vida Blue. Wasn't until '79 that I got to see my first Mets victory.

Best memory of this game was seeing Jerry Koosman hit his home run over the left-field fence. It barely made it, but I saw it as I was coming back from concession stand. Not often you get to see your favorite pitcher homer!

I found an old photograph of me (12 years old) & my brothers & my dad at this game today, but don't remember much else. Evidently, it was a warm sunny afternoon and we sat in left field over by the visiting bullpen. Dollars to donuts Doug Flynn had nothing to do with our 1 run that day.

I remember going to this game as a kid. My dad took me and my brother. It was Jacket Day at Shea and they gave us this plastic Mets jacket! In the game, I remember Tim Foli made 4 errors at SS...both Giants runs were unearned.

First NY Met Game ever. I went with the whole family on Rain Jacket day. Vida Blue was tough that day. Fond memories despite the tough defeat.

My Dad took me to this game. I was 6. He had taken me to a game earlier that year that Ed Kranepool won on a walk-off pinch hit homer. It was awesome. Eddie got the same opportunity in this game, and I thought we had it in the bag -- walk-off pinch hit homers were just what Ed Kranepool did. I was shocked and deflated when he grounded out to second. Maybe my first coming-of-age baseball moment -- Casey sometimes strikes out. RIP, Ed Kranepool!

I was 12. Thrilled to be back at Shea. Sitting in the Mezzaine behind first. Blue on the mound for the red-hot Giants. Koosman pitches very well for the Mets. Randy Moffitt, Billie Jean King's brother, gets the "w" in extra innings for the Giants. But for me the real treat is watching Willie Montonez flip the ball behind his back on put outs at first.

Great outing for San Francisco Giants pitcher Phil Nastu from Bridgeport, Connecticut. Did not get the "W" but pitched 5 1/3 solid innings and left the game with a 4-1 lead. It is also amazing that Jesse Orosco who took the loss for the Mets is still pitching in 2003 with the dreaded Yankees.

This game is on YouTube. (Who says YouTube is great only for stupid stunts and dunking women underwater?) Bob Murphy doing the TV only a few years before he would move to radio full time. 6000 was the attendance at a time when the 'Stick was a cold concrete dump and light years away from the Giants getting their jewel of a park. FYI, the 'Stick is gonna be no more because the 49ers are saying farewell after the 2013 season as they get ready to open their own jewel of a stadium.

At a Holy Name Breakfast earlier in the year, my family won tickets to this game. This was the 10th anniversary of the 1969 Champs and I remember some Mets like Seaver and McGraw speaking on the public address because they were still playing. I remember we had bad seats in the loge; the sun was really in our eyes that day. A few years ago I aquired a video of the Old Timers Day that day. What a treat that was to go back and relive that memory. Lindsey Nelson who was in his first year as a Giants announcer after leaving the Mets after 1978 participated in the festivities.

I still have my ticket stub for this game. We had Mezz Box ($6.00), pretty good tickets on what I remember was a beautiful day. All these years the only thing I could remember about this game was that Tom Hausman started for the Mets. Now, after seeing the boxscore, I realize why Hausman's performance stayed with me all these years.

This was Old Timers Day, and the Mets pulled off one of the funniest stunts I've seen at Shea...

Comedian Garrett Morris was in his Saturday Night Live heyday, when he Chico Escuela ("Baseball been berry, berry good to me.")

During the Old Timers game, Morris was in a Mets uniform, and when someone got a hit, he ran onto the field to the announcement, "Now pinch running for the Mets, no. 5, Chico Escuela."

Was at this game with my dad and remember there was a buzz at Shea. The victory the night before had brought the Mets one game under .500 (a big deal for mid-June).

There was a huge crowd, in part because it was a promotional date. Kids got a vinyl poncho which I proudly wore. Never mind that it was hot, and sunny, and I was sweating like mad...

Of course the Mets lost, and the rest of the season was a downer.

The day after Steve Henderson's dramatic walk-off home run. The stadium was filled with excitement. My dad took me to this game as one of my graduation gifts from grammar school. Nothing dramatic about this one, I can tell ya!

This Friday night game was actually the night BEFORE Steve Henderson's walk-off homer, not the night after. (I think both of the earlier posts about this game belong under the Sunday, June 15 game.)

On this night Vida Blue shut down the Mets, allowing just four hits and one unearned run to improve to 9-2 on the year (he finished the year 14-10).

Milt May had a fourth inning homer off Ray Burris, and it was the 9,000th home run in the history of the Giants' franchise.

My parents were out and my 79-year-old grandfather went to bed early while I was downstairs watching the game forever known as "The Steve Henderson Game." Nice hit by Claudell Washington up the middle set it up and after Henderson hit it out, I remember banging both hands on the walls in spontaneous ecstasy. I feel bad, in retrospect, if you can imagine a 79-year-old man rising about six inches, startled, out of his bed wondering what the racket was!! My grandfather wasn't sick, fortunately, but it startled the heck out of him. Sorry, Gramps. But it was a joyous finish to last a lifetime, one of the best Met moments ever and certainly the best from 1977-Seaver's return in '83.

What an unbelieveable game! It was Fathers's Day, and I was there with my parents and sister. "The Count" of Montefusco was pitching a perfect game and leading 6-0 into the 6th. The Mets finally broke through but trailed 6-2 heading into the 9th. With two outs and nobody on they loaded the bases, then scored two on a single by Claudell Washington. That is when Henderson came up (who had struck out 3 times in the game) and deposited a game-winning HR off the bottom of the scoreboard in RF. The "crowd" (what was left of them) went crazy. I was only 15 and it was one of my first recollections of a big Mets win. Plus we were sitting over the Mets dugout in the 8th and 9th since so many people left. It was a great night.

I recall this game was played on a Saturday night and since this was June 14 and since I am Jewish, the Sabbath didn't end until around 9:20 so I only caught the tail end of this game. But what a tail end! This was one of those moments that every Met fan of a certain age (12 in my case) remembers. One of the top ten home runs in Mets history.

I was 19 years old, and was at this game with a friend who was a Yankee fan. For some reason, we decided to stay-despite the lopsided score-till the end. My recollections are that Claudell Washington's hit in the ninth inning was his first hit as a Met(he had been traded to them recently) and that Steve Henderson had either 0 or 1 home runs on the year prior to his final at bat. I also recall that everyone-my Yankee fan friend included-was hugging people in the stadium that they didn't even know.

The thing about this game was that it capped 8 wins in ten games to put the Mets within a game of .500 and only 6 games out in the NL East. Given the new ownership that year, some fans thought maybe the light was at the end of the tunnel and the Mets might even get in a pennant race (they could still remember 1973). Alas, the Mets lost the next day and went to the west coast to lose six more in a row and reality settled in. It would be four more years before they became a true contender again.

I was in the apartment which me an my family lived in. My parents had gone out for night and sister was in bedroom watching TV. I remember Steve Henderson getting dusted back on the pitch then getting back up crushing the next pitch into the Mets bullpen. It was an exciting moment in which the Mets gave us a glimmer of hope in the bad years.

I was at this game - truly one of the most amazing ever. I was also at the game they won against the Dodgers earlier in the week - also with a walk off home run, ( by Mike Jorgensen). For a week, we thought this team was actually good.

This is my favorite regular season game of all time. Not much I can add that was not already mentioned. Pure joy when Henderson hit that home run! HENDU CAN DO! If I remember correctly, fans stayed in seats until Hendu came out of the clubhouse and stepped on to the field for a curtain call.

This is one of my most memorable Mets games of all time. We walked through the gate to the mezzanine level in the top of the first - just as Rennie Stennett was rounding the bases after hitting a three run homer. The Giants held a 6-0 lead into the late innings behind the "Count" Montefusco, but the Mets chipped away and down 6- 2 in the bottom of the ninth, Claudell Washington singled up the middle for two runs and then Hendu bombed an opposite field three run home run into the right field bullpen to win it. I remember Jack Clark punching the wall in disgust and the crowd - what was left of it - going absolutely wild. As we were walking down the ramp after the game everyone was chanting Lets Go Mets at the top of their lungs. I'll never forget it.

I was at this game and made the unpardonable mistake of leaving early. I didn't want to miss the LIRR train back home and have to wait around for the next one. Besides, there was no way they'd come back in this one, was there?

I learned my lesson; I'll never leave a Mets game early again. There's always hope in baseball. Maybe not much, but some.

That lesson came in very handy during Game 6 of the 1986 World Series

Thank you, Hendu!

I took my wife to this Mets game with some friends of hers. I remember she was really excited (the most she can get excited about Mets Baseball) and was chanting the whole night: "HENDU CAN DO! HENDU CAN DO!"

Heard this "classic" on the radio in my Dad's old '70 Duster. We were going over the Route 37 bridge to Seaside to my grandmother's old summer house. All my dad's brothers were there just flabergasted at the win. I don't remember if Murphy or Albert called the shot. It also showed that times at Shea were going to change. The new ownership at the time gave a lot of Mets fans hope for the future. I believe that about 400,000 more showed up than in 79.

This game was on a Saturday night and I watched it while baby-sitting for the 5 year-old kid across the street and I fell asleep in the 7th or 8th inning when the Giants had a 6 - 1 lead thinking this would be just another dreary Mets' loss but when I woke up I saw pandamonium on the field and the camera constantly on Steve Henderson and it wasn't long before I'd learned that the Mets had won this game 7 - 6 with 5 runs in the bottom of the ninth capped by "Stevie Wonder's" 3-run homer!! I was totally amazed and in shock that the Mets had won this game but I was also a little down that I had slept through all the heroics (and there was no Sports Center or Baseball Tonight back then that showed countless replays) and I still kick myself for falling asleep during one of the Mets' great comeback victories of all time.

This was the greatest game I'd ever been to. I was 14. Ripley knocked down Henderson on an 0-2 pitch, then he hit the next one out. Bedlam. Unless I'm mixing my memories, it was seat cushion night, and they were flying all over the place - with a bunch stuck on the screen above home plate. People were screaming down the ramps after the game - I'd never seen anything like it at Shea. A day or two later, they had a special Kiner's Korner-type show on Ch. 9 to recap the game. What an impact - they lost their next 7.

I will always remember this game for the simple reason that I did even get to see the game winning home-run by Henderson. I was over my Grandparents house watching the game with my folks and the Mets fell behind early and my Dad decided it was time to go home after the 7th inning was over, since as he put it, there was no way in hell that the Mets are going to come back and win this game. I pleading with him to watch one more inning, but he won out and we left. When I got home, my Dad put on the news and we saw the stunning result. My Dad then told me that since he kept me from witnessing the surprise result, that he would take to me the game the next day. We drove from Jersey only to find out the game was sold out and we drove back home.

Our family had always referred to this as the 'Flag Day' game. We had such a great time at this game. We arrived early for Giants BP. Saw the Mets make a great comeback. I'll never forget the scoreboard 'HENDU CAN DO' then 'HENDU DID DO!' I was never a fan of Steve Henderson and resented him because of the Seaver trade, but we were so happy for him that night. This was one of the few bright spots in what is probably the darkest era in Mets history. Another memory of this game, I remember seeing Cluadell Washington playing for the Mets wearing #15 with no last name sewn on the back of his shirt. This may have been his first game as a Met.

This was my most cherished game I've ever attended at Shea, I had loge seats (under the overhang), so I had to bend down to see Henderon's game-winning home-run go over the wall. Even though the Mets were no-hit for 6+ innings, I had a special feeling that the Mets would do something, and boy did they!!

WOW! I just found this site and realized you could look up individual games. Anyway, this is the first one that came to mind. I was 10 years old, watching it on WOR channel 9 I believe, Henderson's HR capped an unbelievable comeback. The fans stayed and waited til Henderson came out of the clubhouse--showered, in street clothes, 45 minutes later, for a curtain call. Games like that make you truly appreciate what it means to be a real Met fan, never giving up and getting the occasional reward for sticking with them thru those lean years.

Now here's a game they should run on SNY as a Mets Classic. Hendu was my favorite Met at this time, and, being a kid, I thought this incredible win somehow meant the Mets were a great team - as if it was worth 15 wins in the standings or something.

I wasn't even alive at the time, but I've heard so many stories and seen the highight of Henderson's homer so many times that I'd pay good money for SNY to play this game as a Mets classic. If any SNY execs read this site and have access to this game, you have many older Mets fans who'd kill to see it.

I will third the motion for SNY to show this game on SNY Classics. I was twelve years old and watched this game on WOR and I still think it is one of the most exciting games I ever saw.

I fourth the motion for this game appearing on SNY Classics

I was 15, and an absolute die-hard fan - an incredibly exciting win. Note that in 1980, only power hitters hit HR's to the opposite field. I did not think Hendu's shot was leaving the ballpark when it came off the bat, and that made it even more stunning.

Funny, I remember watching this game on TV like it was yesterday - and it was the summer after my sophomore year in college. I was 20, and suddenly now I'm 50, lol...

Interesting note to the postgame celebration was Fred Wilpon coming out onto the field wearing plaid pants in front of the Mets dugout to shake hands with Hendu. This of course was the first year of Wilpon/Doubleday ownership.

I remember this game so well. Someone mentioned that this game was on Father's Day. It was not. It was either a Friday or Saturday night. When Henderson hit that HR I jumped up and down screaming in joy. My mother looked at me like I was nuts. Amazingly it was Henderson's first HR of the season.

It had been a long time that a Met fan could celebrate except for Opening Day.

I remember this game vividly. I was 10 and a half and was sitting in the upper box seats behind home plate. My sister was getting married the next week. She and her future husband took me to the game.

For many years, my family shared season tickets with my uncle's family and although we would go to 25 games a year during the late 70's (lean times, for sure), my father was famous for leaving early (8th inning). I can remember missing exciting endings of games and hearing them in the car on the way home on the radio. It always bugged me that we would leave early since there really was no traffic to try and beat in those days.

Anyway, my siblings and I made a pact that we would stay until the very end of games, which we still do today. Thus, even with a 6-2 score, my sister and I decided to show the new addition to our family that Met fans are loyal and stay until the end. Wow were we rewarded!

Claudell's sweet swing drove a perfect single up the middle and suddenly this rally was real! Had to be his first hit as a Met because he had just joined the team and they didn't even have the uniform ready. He was a no-name number 15.

The tying runs were on base and I remember the sign as the new pitcher warmed up: "Hendu Can-do." When that ball got out of Shea, we went nuts! I could not believe it! "Hendu did DO!"

We stopped at Bell Blvd White Castle on the way home! What a night.

I listened to the 9th inning on the radio... I was supposed to be in bed but I was rooting for the Mets to pull it out. I remember the pitch before Henderson hit it out, he was knocked down by a pitch. The thing about Henderson was that he always had a tendency to hit the ball hard after getting knocked down... I remember cheering when he was knocked down because of that. Next pitch BOOM! It was like a scene out of The Natural.

I was 17 and at this game with my parents. We sat on the field level past first base in short RF. Falcone was AWFUL early and we left after the 8th inning. So I am driving home to Mt Vernon up the Hutch north when HENDU CAN-DU on the radio. I start screaming and cheering as I am driving! My parents were also! Great memory. This was one of those games that gave us fans hope. We were so starved. This was the foreplay for the release that was about to happen several years later.

I was at the game with my first cousin. I remember the very, very small crowd going wild when they rallied in the 9th. It was as if they had won the WS. What makes it really special to me is that cousin spent a lifetime battling alcohol and drug abuse. He died young as a result. I have a lot of bad memories of the ways that he wasted his life, but I have a few really good ones. They all center around our mutual love of the Mets. I guess that the father-son story in "Field of Dreams" isn't that far off - for men of past generations baseball was the one thing you could share with guys who were very different from you. Sometimes my wife (who isn't from NY) asks why I don't start rooting for the Yankees. I guess a big reason is that the association with family (my Dad was a big baseball fan as well) gives the Mets a pretty permanent place in my heart.

As the years go by, my VHS tape of homemade highlights from 1980 means more and more to me, because I had the luck to have the machine (mostly) running during this ninth-inning comeback. I watch this home run about once a year. Amazin'.

What I remember most was attending this game with several of my friends and convincing them to leave early because I said "the game is over."

I cannot repeat the language I heard from them when they called me later that evening. We laughed about that for years!

What I remember most about the game was a young Fred Wilpon coming into the dugout to give Steve Henderson a high five after he hit that 3-run home run.

I was 16 years old and at the game with 4 of my friends and it was the most exciting ending to a game I had ever been to. The craziest thing was riding home on the 7 train afterwards, I somehow got our entire train car singing God Bless America since it was Flag Day. My friends never stopped talking about it. I kept the flag they gave out at the game as a good luck charm and had it with me in 86 during game 6.

When I’m reminded of Steve Henderson, my 1st thought is “Tom Seaver”, plus the other 3 (and then Dave Kingman via the trade to the Cubs). But if nothing else, he’s worth every memory for one swing of his bat, capping a comeback victory that left the Giants belittled, the CockyCount of Montefusco humbled, Allen Ripley “not believing” and Metville in their happiest since the 1973 NL Pennant. My lasting image of Steve taking a curtain call to a stunned and frenzied crowd (also happy for not giving up and leaving) leaves me nostalgic - it prefigured 1986, thus the 1980’s had begun on this Flag Day Night. The sale of the franchise in Jan, and a revival after a 9-18 start by a young team -reminiscent of 1969- this Sat. night gave rebirth to Mets Fever, spreading the next day to biggest crowd since Seaver’s return in 1977. Though the team continued to struggle under the new ownership, this event marked the coming-out party for Mets fans, re-emerging from under the shadows of King George and reclaiming NYC as a 2-team town.

Larry, I just want to point out that Dave Kingman was traded to the Padres, not the Cubs, on the same day as the Seaver deal. As for this game, it was a memorable one to those of us who were yearning for a Mets rebirth. Henderson's homer came at the end of a four-batter sequence with the team only one out away from defeat - just like a certain World Series game six years later. It started with Lee Mazzilli's single that scored Doug Flynn to cut the Giants lead to 6-3. Frank Taveras walked and Claudell Washington (who had just been acquired and still had no name on the back of his jersey) singled to drive home Mazzilli. Steve then slugged his first homer of the season for the big victory. I remember Tom Hausman reaching down to catch the ball in the Met bullpen and then jumping for joy. The fans and the rest of the team shared the same emotion.

Later, Henderson came out of the dugout to salute the crowd and high-fived Fred Wilpon himself! Just three weeks after the Islanders won their first Stanley Cup, I saw this as part of a rejuvenation process of the entire New York sports world.

Scoey, I think the trade Larry was referring to was the one that brought Kingman back to the Mets after the 1980 season. Henderson went to the Cubs in that deal. However, Steve's big homer to end this game was a thrill that capped a four-RBI night for him and made him a hero to Mets fans. It also brought his batting average to .341 on the year (third in NL at the time) and gave the Mets their eighth win in their last ten games. The team seemed to be heading for immediate pennant contention in its first season under new ownership, but it wasn't meant to be.

I remember listening to this game on my transistor radio. A friend of mine and I went to the local park to have a catch, and brought the radio with me. When Henderson came up, I predicted, "He's going to hit a home run." When he did, my friend gave me a look of incredulity and disbelief mixed with happiness.

Our whole family went to this game as an early Father’s Day present for my Dad. (Father’s Day was the next day.) Going to the bottom of the 9th, it was 6-2 Giants. And with 2 outs, the game looked over. Then Mazzilli, Taveras, and newly-acquired Claudell Washington reached, bringing Steve Henderson up with 2 outs, 2 on, and the Mets down 6-4. Then BOOM! And pandemonium. When we finally got out of Shea, it was a wild scene in the parking lot. Horns honking. Fans screaming. I’ve never seen anything like it.

The postscript: The Mets’ win brought their record to one game under .500 (27-28). The next day, they were shut out by Bob Knepper. They never again approached .500 for the rest of the year. Henderson’s walk-off was the pinnacle of the 1980 season.

Wow, where do I start?

Well here’s my story.

It was my birthday, Flag Day, June 14th. I was turning 17 and had asked my parents to take me to a Mets game.

I was thinking about this game a lot recently, but couldn’t remember the year, so I did some searching and was lucky enough to find this wonderful web page that helped me figure things out.

I love the stories from the others.

My father was a big sports fan, but definitely didn’t want to “hang out” for the end of the game with the Mets being so far behind late in the game. Of course I wasn’t having any of that, I was like, ”no way”, it’s my birthday, and as Tug had taught us years before, ”You Gotta Believe”.

So we stayed. My Dad was definitely annoyed, UNTIL my man Steve “Can Do” Henderson hit the most beautiful Home Run I had ever seen. The stadium was rockin (a lot of people referenced how empty the stadium was at that point) and to me it seemed like a packed house. Even my Dad was amazed and excited at what had just happened. We couldn’t believe it, it was truly amazing.

I felt really blessed that night, that there really was a higher power, and yes, G-d might just really be a Mets fan. I think about that night more and more as I get older and especially now that my kids are older (27 and 22) and are real Mets fans of their own choosing.

I think what it reminds me of is how something as silly as a game can give us memories with our Dads (way back when) or our kids (in the present) and I hope my kids will have those lasting “forever” memories of a game gone by. They are all just memories, but in the end that’s all we really have, and that’s really the beauty of sports, it gives us these wonderful memories that can last a life time, And that’s what Sam Rosen said on that other wonderful night when years later on June 14th 1994 the NY Rangers won the Stanley Cup. That night G-d was a Rangers fan. :)

Two Great New York stories separated by decades but both taking place on the magical date of June 14, Flag Day !!!

The day after Steve Henderson hit a dramatic, game- winning home run in the bottom of the 9th. Figures when I finally got to see them they were shut out!

I was 7 years old. My first baseball game - sat in the 5th row right behind 3rd base with my dad and older brother. Unfortunately, we got shut out.

Ed Lynch's first game. He could only improve.

I was at this game with my brother. The Mets were down 9-0 in the bottom of the ninth, but I didn't want to leave early, as usual, being a die-hard fan, even keeping score until the end. They made the game quite interesting, scoring 7 runs and getting the tying run to first base before Mike Cubbage lined out to left field to end the game.

That's why I never leave any game early!

I look back at this game as an example of how great a game baseball is. I spent most of this night watching my beloved Islanders complete a four-game sweep of the hated Rangers in a hockey playoff series. During the third period,I switched to the Mets' game and noticed that something was going on.

They were down by a lot in the ninth inning, but had scored a few runs. As more guys were reaching base and more runs were scored, I kept watching. When the Giants' lead was cut to two, I forgot about hockey. I had to see if the Mets could pull off a miracle! I stayed with them until the final out.

When the inning ended, I switched back to the hockey game. As happy as I was to see the Islanders win (which was never in doubt), the Mets, in defeat, actually generated more interest. On a night that my team reached the Stanley Cup Finals, it was a baseball game that turned out to be the highlight of the night!

I like to think of this game as a reason why baseball is the greatest game of all.

One year after the greatest Mets game I ever saw (the Steve Henderson Game) I thought we were going to do it again against the Giants. The previous year my friend Chuck called me up and we couldn't believe the ending. After this game, Chuck called me up again with excitement as this game was clearly the second most exciting game, even in defeat.

The only reason I remember this game is that John Stearns hit a home run off Greg "Moon Man" Minton. It was the first homer Minton had allowed in something like three years and 250 innings. The next weekend, Rusty Staub pinch-hit another one off him to win a game.

The first Mets game I ever watched! Hooked me to become a Met fan for the rest of my life. I was 9 years old at the time. Tom Veryzer made a terrific catch into a double play in the 9th inning. It was an exciting ending to an uneventful game but this game and the game two days later began my journey as a Mets fan.

Didn't remember if they won or lost the game but I was there as a 12 year old. Giveaway day was a miniature Mets bat and a Mets batting helmet.

How could I forget this game! Rusty wins the game in the bottom of the ninth with a pinch hit homer on a beautiful sunny and mild May afternoon at Shea!(I think it was Mothers Day.) The stadium crowd was on their feet screaming! I remember my buddy and I snuck down to the field level boxes on the third base side and saw none other than David Letterman standing in a concession line. (I guess he was at Shea as a spectator.) My buddy walks over to Dave and shakes his hand. Dave smiles back at my buddy. I didn't see anyone else go up to Dave but the Letterman show was kind of new in 1982 so no one really cared. Just another of the many magical memories I have of Shea Stadium.

This game was on my 19th birthday. It was the end of my freshman year of college upstate and my roommate (another big Met fan) and I went to one of the dorms that had washers to do our laundry. Once we got there, we commandeered the TV in the lounge near the laundry room and took turns guarding the TV set against poachers who wanted to watch the Islanders in the playoffs or something.

I vaguely remember being pretty excited about the Mets' surprisingly respectable start, and Rusty's homer (his first since rejoining the Mets) sent us into spasms of joy. A great memory.

Buddy of mine (and I) show up with our S.F. Giants caps on. Yes, I'm a dual fan. Brent Gaff makes his debut and hurls 7 plus solid innings before Reggie Smith's home run which gave the Jints a 3-2 win. The only thing worse than the Mutts of '82 was the inept throws all night made by Giant backstop Milt May. One throw resulted in a catchy chant of NICE THROW, MILT. AT LEAST YOU CAN HIT!

Day after attending the Mets/Dodgers game, I got to go to Shea to see my FIRST night game at Shea ever. I sat in the field box (9A/Seat 4) near the Mets dugout! George Foster hits one out but I missed it since I was at the concession stand. According to retrosheet.org; 9,000+ attended this Mets/Giants tilt compared to the 45,000+ that were at Shea the afternoon before!

Yet another game I cut school to attend. I sat right behind home plate and the thing I recall about this game was Kingman hitting a bomb off of Jim Barr. Frank Robinson came out to take Barr out of the game and Barr with total disrespect, tossed Robinson the ball and attempted to walk right past the Giants skipper. Robinson a no-nonsense person grabbed Barr and yanked him back on the mound. For a moment it looked as if the two would come to blows, but cooler heads prevailed.

My friends and I were at this game. We were seated in the third-base-side Loge. After the Barr-Robinson on mound pitcher-manager confrontation, I was convinced a Reggie-Billy style fight would break out in the dugout. So we hustled to the first-base side to see into the third-base dugout but nothing erupted.

Before this game, there was a ceremony honoring Willie Mays as the Giants retired his uniform #24. The Mets then came up seven runs in the top of the fifth for a victory as Ed Lynch pitched the first complete game of his career. Ron Hodges doubled twice and George Foster slugged a grand slam in the big inning. One interesting fact about this is that Mays and Foster have a certain connection to each other. When Willie hit his 600th career home run, he did so as a pinch-hitter for George.

Mets really bombed out bad in this game. I even remember Murphy saying his old phrase, "The Mets have really run into harrrrrd times".

I was at this game. We got there early enough to see batting practise. Keith Hernandez had joined the team the month before so Dave Kingman hardly played at this point. During BP Kingman didn't hit and didn't take fielding practice. He was nowhere on the bench during the game. He did pinch hit later on and he hit the highest goddamn popup over the infield in major league history. The ball took about ten minutes to come down. Of course the ball was caught for an easy out. Even when Kingman did absolutely nothing he still managed to leave you with a memory.

Darryl Strawberry hit two home runs in this game. His second one was a mammoth shot over the center field wall. Afterwards, a reporter asked him if it would have also been a homer at the Polo Grounds. Darryl (who was only two years old when that place was demolished) answered "What's the Polo Grounds?" Must have made that writer feel old!

Kelvin Chapman was the hero on this day, hitting a grand slam off of a guy he owned, future Cy Young winner, Mark Davis. Gaff got the win as the boxscore shows with 5 great innings of relief, in the Mets only home victory against the Giants in '84. Bob Brenly was a one man wrecking crew vs. the Mets that season with 4 Shea homers. He of course went on to win the World Series as Diamondbacks skipper--Kelvin Chapman last time I heard was a UPS guy out west somewhere but he delivered that day.

Rained throughout the game and slow working LaPoint-Darling matchup was great for the beer vendors. Carter's 12th inning hit wins it.

The most profitable game I ever attended.

My cousin got married that day and we went to the reception, which was in the afternoon. Some people at the reception, when it was over, decided to go out together to a club. One of them had two tickets to this game and decided to go to the club instead of the game, and gave the tickets to me and my brother. They were really good seats, in the upper boxes, and I had never sat in such expensive seats at Shea Stadium before.

Well, we stuck for the whole game. It was tied going into the tenth, the the Giants blew the Mets out in the top of the tenth, and, of course, almost everybody left by the end of the top of the tenth, but me and my brother stayed for the bottom half, hoping to avoid the traffic rushing out of the park.

When the Mets made their last out, we got up to leave, and when I turned around, I found two 20 dollar bills lying on the ground under the seat behind us. The people who had those seats were long gone, so I picked up the money and made 40 dollars, which was a whole lot of money to me back then, as I was still a college student.

Thanks Mets, for giving up those 6 runs, getting everybody to leave early, and earning me 40 bucks for sticking it out.

I had the chicken pox at the time and was stuck in the house for 10 days, including the Memorial Day Weekend; I was 18 at the time and I was miserable because I was supposed to attend a big party that holiday weekend and couldn't go. THANK GOD for the Mets and the all-time countdown of rock hits at 102.7 WNEW-FM when it was an album rock station. Stayed in bed, rubbing pink lotion every hour so I wouldn't be uncomfortable. Watching Doc pitch one of his greatest games on Ch. 9 and destroying a then-mediocre Giants team with 14K. Former Met Alex Trevino had the only run for the Giants with a dinger. Made me feel a whole lot better that rough stretch I had.

Gooden was especially dominant on this afternoon at Candlestick. By the time the 9th inning came, SF could not touch him. He struck out the side in incredible fashion.

Gooden was on fire that night at Shea and the house was rockin! As he racked up more and more K's, I looked up from my field box seat to the K corner and thought those guys are having a lot of fun up there. Left my seat for the very end of the upper deck in left field. When Gooden would get a 2 strike count, we'd all clap and stomp our feet at the same time until the whole upper deck was bouncing up & down. The security guys had to clear us out because the stadium could come crashing down. He set a personal best that night with 16 K's and matched his rookie win total with 19. The only down side was Chili Davis smacking his fastball around. He was a Met killer.

I was 10 years old when I went with my family to this game. My dad grew up watching the NY Giants at the Polo Grounds so we always saw the Giants play when they came to Shea Stadium.

We sat by the Giants 3rd base dugout and I had the good fortune of watching Dwight "Doctor K" Gooden mowing down the hitters. It was a great night, I remember it well.

The only hitter on the Giants who Gooden couldn't strike out was Chili Davis. For some reason, Chili was one of the very few hitters in the league during the height of Doc's dominance that never had trouble with him. No one else could touch Gooden on this night, 16 K's in all for his 19th win.

On the way to the game I was on the 7 train and I was the lone Giant fan on the train. I was surrounded by Mets fans, and I thought even though we're not so good this year we can beat 'em today. So it was a good simple victory for my team that later lost 100 games.

Terry Leach didn't find out that he was starting this game until about a half hour before it started. Sid Fernandez was scheduled but couldn't go. So naturally, he goes out and pitches a complete game shut out.

Leach is generally forgotten in Mets history by fans because he had nothing to do with the famous 1986 team (since they were so healthy, they never needed him and he was stashed in the minors all year). But he was truly one of the most underrated and underappreciated Mets of all time. Always tended to pitch well when given the chance.

This game was one of those times that Davey sent a clear message to Ron Darling, to either put up or shut up.

Usually, Davey gave Gooden to most leeway on the staff, especially early in his managerial career. But on this night, he showed supreme confidence in Darling (not always easy for Davey as the two of them butted heads on occasion). In the 9th inning with a one run lead, with Darling still in there and after getting the first 2 men out, he suddenly loads the bases with a walk, single and walk.....prime time to bring in McDowell or Orosco. But Davey decided to let Darling get out of his own jam, and he proved him right, getting the final out on a harmless fly ball to the outfield.

a remarkable Mets win, Keith Hernandez put the Mets up for good with a pinch-hit homer off Mark Davis into the upper-deck at Candlestick. The rally almost dies as Larry Bowa, pinch-running for Staub gets caught rounding the bag at 3rd.

This was a Labor Day game and I was at a family outing. I stayed inside all day watching this game which was a total bust for the Mets until the 9th. Hernandez blast off the tough lefthander Mark Davis was awesome. One of my personal favorite Met memories.

Keith hit what was probably his furthest Mets homer to win this one, off of one of Mark Davis' curveballs.

It's generally forgotten today but Darling and Davey Johnson weren't the most warm and cuddly of friends early in their Mets tenures. It really boiled over after this game in which on paper, Darling pitched very well. 7 innings, 2 runs and win. But Davey was much more critical of his 4 walks and called his performance "almost terrible" in the papers.

This was really the game that signified the "end" of Gooden's absolute, other worldly dominance of the National League, as he got rocked for 7 runs in one of his shortest outings ever.

It was really the first time in almost 2 years that he was truly hit all around the ballpark and just looked completely terrible (he had a pretty bad outing against Philly in August of 1985 but that was also one of the hottest days of the year).

This game was typical Mets 1986. All I remember was the end. The Mets were dead in the 10th down a run 2 outs, somehow they tied it. Then with Mitchell on 2nd base Santana popped up the ball in the infield. Mitchell ran full speed while Robby Thompson and Jose Uribe each called for the ball. Finally they both stopped calling for it looked at each other and the ball dropped right in between them. Mitchell scored and the Mets won and Raffy was laughing as he was greeted by his teammates. Definetly top 5 game of the year.

Attended this game with my best friend. We snuck in a bottle of vodka and drank it with beers on the side.

We were very hammered, and about the only memory I have is the vivid picture of Uribe and Thompson colliding on the popup. Can picture it like it was yesterday.

Ahhh my first ever Mets game. I was 9 years old and my friend's dad took us and we sat in the luxury box for his company which would spoil me for every future game. Free food and drinks! Anyway the game looked over and my friend was bellyaching how he wanted to go home but his dad insisted we stay and I was so glad we did. The place went nuts when that routine popup fell through and I was hooked on the Mets from thereon out. A great memory.

The play at the end of the game is my first Mets memory. I was 8 years old and I listened to the game on the radio with my dad. I was already a Mets fan, but this is my first memory. I remember listening to Bob Murphy's call of the ball getting popped up and Thompson and Uribe colliding and the ball dropping and Mitchell scoring from second base. I couldn't believe it and it made me so happy I started jumping up and down. That was the day it really started for me.

It was glove night. My brother and I took his son (8) and my daugther (6) to their first game. Bobby O didn't have it...getting rocked for 4 runs in the first. we got one back, as Mookie led off with a solo shot...then added another...but the Mets would go down in flames that evening.

Hey, this is a neat little website. With the start of the 2002 Mets season, I was going back through my memory to try and figure out when I went to my very first baseball game (I was 7). I knew that Bobby O. was pitching for the Mets, and that they lost to the Giants. I also knew the game occured in 1986. I remembered Mookie hitting a home run, and that was enough information to narrow it down to this very game.

I also remember it being glove day...and getting my glove signed by Howard Johnson before the game.

The Mets did get shelled, giving up 15 hits. Not exactly a great example of how the Mets played through the course of the 1986 season, but I was hooked, and have been a lifelong fan ever since.

I remember going to this game with my friends Willie, Bob, and Dave. We were all up for the game figuring, Easy win. Bobby O has got the ball. Then the Mets ended up getting shelled. The highlight for us was when Mookie Wilson hit a homer into the Mets bullpen right past where we were sitting.

Oh man, this game was on my birthday and I was so excited to see my main man Straw. What a great birthday present from my grandfather. The lineups get announced and Danny Heep is playing RF. I nearly threw a tantrum. The night before was such an exciting game and now this game was a disaster as Bobby O got shelled. Worst birthday ever! And I feel like every game I went to Doug Sisk pitched. I really couldn't stand that guy.

I waited for over an hour at will call for them to find my ticket on a hot humid day and just got in to see the start and with Giants ahead 5-0 or something. Nice Field Level seat. I left after the 5th inning. The Mets had a rare off day but, they had 108 on days that year and then 7 more after that. Outstanding starting pitching. Nothing like Gooden in 84, 85. By 86 he was already going downhill and still won 17.

Watched this one recently on the old tape. Easily the worst game that the 86 Mets would play all year, and it probably wasn't close.

They made 5 errors. Backman had a ball go through his legs, Heep dropped a routine flyball, Hearn threw the ball away and had another one where he couldn't pick it up. Even Keith had a ball bounce off his glove (though it was not counted as an error). Also, HoJo broke his wrist when he collided with Mookie in left field on one ball, and Dykstra and Backman collided on another ball. Truly a complete comedy of errors all day. Honestly, the Mets have probably rarely played a worse game in their entire history. Thankfully, we can look back and laugh at that fact since the team had 108 times of looking wonderful that year.

It was a nationally televised broadcast (ABC) and a sell out crowd since it was a giveway day and a sunny Sunday afternoon, and it got so bad this day that the crowd booed the team pretty loudly by the time the 4th or 5th errors were happening.

My cousins wife got me and my wife tickets for this game against SF. Sid Fernandez was unhittable as he fanned 14 Giants. Unfortunately his performance did not impress my misses as she fell asleep as Jose Uribe went down swinging for strikeout #12.

I was 4 and this was my first MLB game ever. My uncle brought me and we had great seats down the third base line. I have been a Mets fan ever since.

This is the game where Keith Hernandez hit a comebacker to Mulholland and Mulholland ran most of the way to first base, and I remember he threw the glove to Bob Brenly for the out. A similar thing happened in about 99 or 98 where Orlando Hernandez threw the glove to Tino Martinez for the out.

It was cloudy and cool, and I was there with my parents and my cousin. Terry Mulholland couldn't get a ball out of his glove that he'd caught, and wound up throwing his glove, ball and all, to the first baseman to make the out. Also, Kevin Elster hit a home run in his first plate appearance. Two memorable moments.

I don't remember much about this game, but look at Sid's pitching line. no hits for five innings. If you could find the buddy I was with he should be able to tell you I was screaming for Sid to strike out in his second time at bat. Instead he got a double and had to leave the game with a no hitter going, because he hurt his leg running to second base. Tour de Force Sid, Amazingly great but something going absurdly wrong.

Yet another one of those '87 games that reminded you this was not going to be like '86. Jeff Innis made his major league debut in this one. As a 9-year-old, I was always excited when a new Met made his appearance on the scene. I liked him for about an inning, until he gave up a bomb to Jeff Leonard in the 10th. After that, he was like Doug Sisk to me.

After some research, I'm fairly certain this was the first game I ever went to. About a month away from my 7th birthday, my dad took me to the Big Shea. I was just starting to follow baseball during what I believe was my first year of tee ball. There's no doubt I went to this game because I know I was at Nestle Crunch Glove day in 1987. I've been able to determine that all of the other games I have memories of attending in those days were after this one -- so I think I can label 5/16/87 as the day I was officially a Met fan.

Nice tidbit from this game as Giants reliever Jim Gott faced Tim Teufel in the late innings.

Gott in German means God, and Teufel in German is translated to "devil". In this confrontation, "good" beat "evil" as Teufel flew out to center field.

Also, the Mets first win on the weekend in 1987. A weird day all around.

Barry Lyons hit a grand slam in this game, and it came in the Daily News Hometown Home Run inning, so some lucky fan won $10,000!

The start of a west coast trip that the Mets needed to dominate in order to have any real chance for the rest of the season.

Gooden went the distance and HoJo broke a scoreless tie in the 6th with a long homer against the eventual west champs.

The Mets would go 7-2 on this west trip and play excellent baseball, which at least gave them a chance down the stretch.

Gary Carter hit a 1st inning grand slam as the Mets scored all of their runs in their 5 run opening inning. They cruised to a 5-3 win as this west coast trip really got the Mets back into the race and made September a true pennant race. They ended up going 7-2 on the coast and played some of their best baseball of the season.

I caught my first and only foul ball on this day. It was an over the rail catch. Is it on film somewhere? Would love to see it again.

Was in SF for two straight games, this being the first. Mets set a team record for first inning runs in an away game. It was over before it started. I have a photo of the Candlestick park outfield scoreboard showing that first inning 9-spot.

I was at this game as well. I remember the 9-run first inning, and a Giant fan's comment that if not for the first inning, they would have beaten us 6-4. And as a kid I said, "6-4, blame Bob McClure!"

Second of my two Met games at Candlestick.

Mets were on fire the night before, Cone was on fire all that year but this night he was all wet. So, I was treated to one of only three Cone losses that year. Early in his career, he didn't have a game face - he would just show his dejection to the world.

A Coincidence: I also saw one of Ron Guidry's 3 losses in 1978. (2-1 Balt @Yankee Stadium 2-run hr by DeCinces following a Dent error!)

I had better seats for the Cone loss to the Giants, a few rows off short left field where I think the visiting Mets had their Warmup mounds. And yes, it was true that you had to bring a jacket to night games at Candlestick.

The Mets won this in the 10th on a bases loaded walk by Goose Gossage, as both he and Craig Lefferts completely lost the strikezone in the inning to give a struggling Mets team a victory.

I believe this was the game where the Mets got 4 outs in one inning.

What happened was there was a runner on 1st with 2 outs. On the next pitch the batter struck out but Barry Lyons threw to 2nd anyway to get the runner going to 2nd. The ball got away and Dykstra picked it up and threw home to get the runner trying to score, and he was called out.

I narrowed it down to this game. I know it was 1989 at San Fran. I know Dykstra was still on the team and Lyons was catching and it was a night game, so this seems like the only game it could be.

Just watched this one recently on the old tape, the Mets were reeling badly as the Giants hit 3 separate 3-run homers. Sid Fernandez made a rare relief appearance as well (his last one as a Met).

The Mets had immense trouble beating the West champion Giants in 1989, one of the many reasons why they didn't repeat as East champs.

The Mets last ever appearance on the NBC Game of the Week, although more importantly, a tough loss in the pennant race. The Mets would start September losing their first 4 games, essentially putting them against the wall of having to play perfect baseball for the rest of the month, something they certainly couldn't accomplish.

Gary Carter's first appearance at Shea since the Mets let him go and he received a great ovation from the crowd

Wonderful afternoon game at Shea - a gorgeous afternoon with near-perfect weather, rookie sensation 21 y/o Todd Hundley was catching and hit a double, Gary Carter was playing one of his first games AGAINST the Mets in years, and Darryl Strawberry hit a monstrous grand slam deep into the right field mezzanine. All this, and the fun of watching the beer guy tripping four aisles up from my family, sending his entire freshly-filled tray of beer flying - then cascading - down the aisles. . .

A childhood memory not to be easily forgotten.

Everything you said about this game is correct Howard, except this game was a night game, not an afternoon one. I only know because I happen to have the game on tape and was recently watching it.

Funny with a name like Howard you don't also mention that Howard Johnson also smashed a tape-measure 3-run shot in this blowout win! Strawberry's grand slam was the last of 5 the Mets hit in 1990 and the last of 4 he hit during his Mets career. Jefferies also homered and had it get caught by Alejandro Pena in the bullpen. I miss the times when Met relief pitchers would do that. Of interesting note, Giants starter Mike LaCoss gave up just 5 home runs in 77.2 innings in 1990 -- 4 of those were hit by the Mets.

Sid was phenomenal here, tying a season high with 12 Ks. Loved seeing the SSSSSSSSSSSSID strikeout tally signs across the upper deck facade. But geez, here's another example of Buddy sticking with his starter for too long. Already having thrown 110 pitches entering the 8th, Sid stayed out there and gave up a walk, double, another walk, and single before finally getting relieved at 126 pitches. What's the point of this with one month left in the season and your team up 7-0? I get back in this era no one really paid attention to pitch counts, but Sid's body language was screaming that he was out of gas the entire inning. I really think Buddy gets a lot of undeserved credit for the 1990 turnaround when it was really just a case of a good team that got off to a slow start. And Buddy's shortcomings would be sorely exposed the following season.

One other thing that irked me: the WWOR telecast routinely relayed incorrect pitch counts all season. When Sid was taken out, they said he ended with 119 pitches. That's 6 off! Whoever was in charge of keeping track of this obviously flunked his first grade math class.

One of the best games I've attended. Mets trailed 3-1 in the last of the 9th, with 2 out and 0 on vs Giants closer Bedrosian when Jefferies singled. Magadan followed with a double to score Jefferies. Bedrosian intentionally walked Strawberry, a move which would later be the subject of controversy, as it was the winning run. McReynolds banged a single up the middle, scoring Magadan to tie the game, and sending Straw to 3d. The miracle comeback is capped off when Ho-Jo lofted a fly ball down the right field line which dropped in, barely fair and barely out of RF Mike Kingery's reach, Straw scores, and pandemonium erupts at Shea!

Sadly, in retrospect a day of false starts so typical of the late 80's Mets. I remember the game started out with the aquisition of Charlie O'Brien and Tommy Herr; real ballplayers. Then there was the 2 out no-one out 3 run rally reprise of 86, which ended as HoJo's flair fell just out of Mike Kingery's reach. The place was estatic. To cap matters off , I'm listening to Howie Rose's old post game show when Houston comes back from two down with two out in the ninth to beat the Pirates! These had to be signs from the baseball gods that the World Series was in the future! Sadly, Zane Smith, Doug Drabek et al argued to the contrary. I wonder if the gods of baseball Karma were somehow extracting payback for Game 6? Fifty years hence, will we speak of "The Curse of Buckner?"

As I saw this comeback unfold, it brought back memories of that famous sixth game of the World Series four years earlier. The Mets had two outs, nobody on base and they were down by two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. With Giants' starter Don Robinson still on the mound, Magadan smacks a hard single and scores on a double by Jefferies. Starter Don Robinson still on the mound, Magadan smacks a hard single and scores on a double by Jefferies. Reliever Steve Bedrosian comes in to pitch and walks Strawberry intentionally. McReynolds gets a clutch single to drive home Jefferies and the game is tied. Hojo then comes up up and hits this fly ball down the right field line that falls in and Strawberry scores the winning run. The miracle victory was reminiscent of of the one that shocked the Red Sox in 1986, only with a hit instead of an error to end it.

One ironic fact here is that Kevin Mitchell caught a fly ball for the first out of the ninth. It was Mitchell who singled and scored tying run on a wild pitch in the '86 rally. This time, he saw the Mets pull off the same kind of thing from the other side.

This was Tommy Herr's and Charlie O'Brien's first game as Mets, and I remember how I couldn't believe the hated Cardinal, Tommy Herr, from the 1980s was a member of the New York Mets.

I was at this game and, lo and behold, Tommy Herr hit a home run, but I still never liked him, and it was one of very few highlights that he provided Mets fans.

The first glimpse of O'Brien that game refreshed my memory of how a real defensive catcher is supposed to play, as opposed to the hitting catcher I was used to, Mackey Sasser. I won't even go into Sasser's throws (or attempts) back to the pitcher.

My first ever game attended...wow...what a memory. Darryl homered, my favorite Met of all time. Julio Valera's MLB debut. I don't remember how long he was in the majors but I'll always remember his name. He made his in person Shea debut the same day as me ;) 10-year-old me and my Dad enjoyed every moment. Dad I love you. Rest peacefully.

I was 8 years old when I went to this game. It was Kid Cuisine binder day. I think I remember the Kid Cuisine mascots were there too; BJ & The Chef or something. I still have the binder somewhere in my basement.

In addition to the binder, you wound up going to a pretty good game too, Anthony. The two teams combined for 30 hits, each left 11 runners on base, and there was all kinds of excitement on the basepaths. Brett Butler got picked off twice, the Giants failed a suicide squeeze, and Mackey Sasser put the Mets up to stay with a clutch 2-out, 2-run, pinch-hit single off lefty reliever Mark Thurmond (who was pitching in his last of 314 career big-league games) in the 5th.

Also, watching this game back I couldn’t understand why Bud Harrelson didn’t pinch hit for Wally Whitehurst with the bases loaded and 2 out in the 6th. The pitcher popped out to end the inning, then promptly allowed the first three batters to reach base in the 7th before getting the hook. Glad that bad decision didn’t wind up costing the Mets the game.

Nice win for the Mets on a Saturday afternoon at Shea. The Mets fell behind early, 2-0, then tied it at 2-2. The the Giants scored two in the fifth on a Will Clark homer and it looked like that would be the difference.

But in the bottom of the ninth Bud Harrelson sent Mackey Sasser up to lead off, pinch-hitting for Charlie O'Brien. Sasser homered to make it 4-3, and then Mark Carreon, batting for Alejandro Pena, homered to tie the score. It was the first case of back-to-back pinch-homers in the NL since 1975.

Howard Johnson's two-run homer in the bottom of the twelfth won the game. Rookie Pete Schourek picked up the win as the Mets improved to 14-9.

This game was Kahn's shirt day for kids. I need old yearbooks to help my memory because I cannot remember exact dates of games I went to before 1993. I was at this one because in some old pictures of myself, I am wearing the "Property of Mets" shirt they gave away at this game. Dwight Gooden pitched this game and it looks like he did good.

One of the few games in which HoJo wore #44, as he homered to help the Mets win on Mother's Day. He'd go back to his usual #20 a few days later.

Went to this game as a guest of my girlfriend's family friend. Our seats were 1st row, on the homeplate side/edge of the Giants dugout. I sat right next to baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent who introduced HIMSELF to ME. What a nice guy! Anyway, it was the day the Mets traded Ron Darling to the Expos. The Commish asked ME what I thought of the trade, I told him the Mets got the short end of the deal. Many players walked up to the Commish to say hi, including Will Clark and Roger Craig. The Commish signed a ticket stub for me and my girlfriend's idiot brother asked him to sign a pack of cigs. The commish's people declined and he signed a ticket stub for that tool also. Great time!

Was awsome to see the Mets pull this one out for a win., even though neither team was in contention. I remember totally losing respect for Kevin Mitchell once he left us, and he got a lot of booing that day. 1991 was the first year of the authentic collection MLB baseball caps, and I remember after this game going to Modell's and getting myself an authentic blue Mets cap. By the way in this game I saw Kevin McReynolds' hat. He takes a size 7 and a half.

The previous comment here says neither team was in contention, but that's not really true. Though the Mets fell out of the race by August, beating the Giants here moved them to 14 games over .500 and made them winners of 11 of their last 13 games, getting them to within 4.5 of the first-place Pirates. So the Mets were very much alive by this point in the season. Also, not sure why you'd lose so much respect for Mitchell considering he didn't leave on his own accord but was traded. It's not like he picked another team over the Mets, like Strawberry did. Watching the game back, I didn't really hear many boos for Mitchell, aside from when he parked one off of Gooden in the 6th inning, but I wasn't really listening for them either so maybe there were a few boos I didn't notice.

The major news before this game was the trade of Ron Darling to Montreal for Tim Burke, marking the end of his 7+ year stay in New York. With Fernandez coming back from a broken arm, the Mets were going to be stuck with too many starters, so someone had to be the odd man out, with that being Darling. Burke definitely helped solidify the bullpen in '91 but struggled mightily in '92.

The third inning was an fun one for the Mets. O'Brien led off with his first hit at Shea since April, then Gooden followed with a butcher boy double. After a walk and a strikeout, Jefferies delivered a bloop 2-run single, and the Mets tacked on 2 more and pretty much coasted to a win despite some late-game home runs by SF. It was also neat to see Rod Beck and Mike Remlinger as rookies in this game, as both would go on to become some of the best relievers of the decade.

One final note: When Francisco Oliveras was taken out of the game, McCarver, delivering one of his famous one-liners, said, "You can now say the Giants are 'sans Francisco.'" After Kiner gave no reaction to the joke, McCarver asked, "No?," to which Kiner quickly responded, "No. I don't think you can say that." It was quite LOL worthy.

Coming into this game, the Mets had scored a combined 2 runs in their last 4 games. Their offensive stats at Shea were just pitiful. Bobby Bonilla, hearing boos louder than he probably ever heard, finally breaks out and hits a grand slam with 6 RBI. The Mets scored 14 runs in one of the very few great offensive showings of the 1992 season.

Last game I've been to at Shea. Took my son, who was 15 at the time. No Will Clark or Matt Williams if I remember. Cone 178 pitches.

Cone was on the Monday, June 12, 2006 episode of Mike and the Mad Dog (WFAN-660 Radio).

I think he said he threw 166 pitches that game. He didn't blame Torborg for leaving him in because he said he wanted to stay in the game. He said the Mets were a few games under .500 but felt they still had a chance so he wanted to win it for the team.

Had tickets to see the Mets/Braves game on 5-31-92. That game was rained out, so me, my dad (R.I.P. DAD) and my sis went to this one. We had nosebleed seats but my dad's friend who worked at Con Ed with him and also worked Shea security moved us down to field level seats. Great game, great pitching by El Sid!

Ahhh, the '92 Mets. Just got The Worst Team Money Could Buy: The Collapse of the New York Mets on Ebay. Interesting book. All I remember about this game is that it was Donruss Baseball Card Book Day and the small size of the Giants' third base coach. Do not remember much other than that. I was just becoming a diehard Mets fan back then.

It's totally forgotten now, but the talk of the day on this broadcast was the fact that everyone assumed it would be the Mets last ever trip to San Francisco. The Giants were seriously threatning to move to Tampa Bay after the season was over and at this point in August, it was dangerously close to potentially happening. All through the Sportschannel broadcast, Fran Healy, Rusty and Ralph were sharing their memories of Candlestick. As we know now, it never happened, The Giants got their brand new gorgeous park built eventually later in the decade. Funny to look back now. As for the game, Eric Hillman pitched into the 9th, running out of gas but still getting the win on the afternoon.

Frank Tanana was having a great day until the eighth inning of this game. From the first to the seventh, he was pitching a shutout and had singled to drive home the Mets only two runs. This was both the first hit and first RBIs ever for the 39-year-old Tanana, who had spent the previous twenty years in the DH-plagued American League. Then, a pair of singles to start the eighth got Frank lifted and the Giants eventually won it in the ninth. Such was life for the Mets in '93, their worst season ever!

This was the first of 10 walkoff losses the Mets suffered in 1993. They intentionally walked a slumping Will Clark (although he did have 2 hits in this game) to pitch to Williams with 2 out in the 9th, but with Franco hurt and no other trustworthy lefties on the team, Torborg really didn’t have any better options.

When they walked Clark, Rusty Staub talked about how baseball could skip the 4 pitches and just let the batter go to first if they were looking for ways to speed up the game. He was quite ahead of his time, as MLB finally adopted his idea in 2017.

Went to this game with my family and our best friends. The fireworks show afterwords was incredible and it was a great come-from-behind win for the Mets. I still remember seeing my sister's name on the scoreboard for her birthday. (She was 9 years old then, shes 27 now.)

HoJo's last Shea homer in the 9th inning was not enough as the Mets lost to San Fran on the 4th of July.

On a cold and windy night in San Francisco, Gooden tosses his second-to-last complete game as a Met but he has one bad inning where his defense let him down, leading to his 10th loss of the season. In that 2nd inning, Matt Williams -- who was in his second game off the DL -- led off with a double, and was moved to third on a Dave Martinez groundout. Royce Clayton then tapped one to third that Johnson nabbed and quickly tried to tag Williams out before he got back to the bag. It was a bang-bang play but the ump ruled Williams safe. Kurt Manwaring then singled in the Giants' first run, but opposing pitcher Bryan Hickerson struck out trying to bunt next. That could have been the end of the inning if HoJo got the call. Instead, Darren Lewis follows with an RBI single, which Bonilla boots trying to pick up, leading to the runners advancing to second and third. Steve Scarsone, starting at 2B for the injured Robby Thompson, then grounded one to Johnson, who this time threw wide of first, allowing yet another run to score. Will Clark, who'd homer later in the game, flew out next to finally end the inning.

Johnson was painful to watch play at this point. He clearly had nothing left in the tank as far as power, reaction time or fielding prowess were concerned. Dallas Green was hitting him second at the time in an effort to jumpstart him, but he hit .218 over 16 games in the 2-hole, so it definitely didn't work. Truth be told, he only had 6 more games to go before his Mets career was over. It's so hard to believe he went from a legit MVP candidate in 1991, to a complete nothing by 1993.

The aforementioned Darren Lewis set the major league record by playing his 267th consecutive game without an error in this one. His streak lasted all the way until game #392. Though Nick Markakis broke his record, Lewis does still hold the record for consecutive games without an error to start a career.

Also, Eddie Murray collected hit #2,732 -- a first-inning RBI single -- to tie Tony Perez for 39th on the all-time list, according to the Mets broadcast. Bob Carpenter filled in for Tim McCarver in the game, which was a pleasant relief for my ears. He continued some fill-in work for the Mets in 1993 before moving on to the Twins' team in 1994. I wasn't aware until visiting his website, but he designs and sells his own scorebook, which apparently is the most widely used scorebook in the nation. Good for him.

Yeee hah!

Finally found this box score.

I was at this game - Dave Gallagher hit the only Met grand slam I have witnessed (and I've been to 100+ games.)

Thanks Dave!!!

A bright spot in the awful 1990 - 1994 span when the Mets stunk and when I took a lot of verbal abuse from Giants fans at the 'Stick.

I have lived in SF for 14 years and I STILL root hard against the Giants because of the awful, trashy crowds at Candlestick.

This game was definitely a heartbreaker for the Mets. The Giants had a 4-0 lead but then in the 7th inning, Joe Orsulak hit a pinch-hit grand slam. The Mets kept that lead until the 9th, when Dusty Baker unconventionally sent up 2 left- handed hitters against John Franco. The strategy worked as both got singles, and then an error by Jeromy Burnitz allowed them to move up to 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Barry Bonds drove in the winning run with a long sacrifice fly.

Jim Lindeman's homer in the top of the 10th won this one for the Mets.

The second to last Sunday home game of the season due to the impending strike, played on a gorgeous afternoon. This was a back and forth contest all day, as Hundley hit a pinch hit homer to get the Mets back in the game in the 7th. But the Giants came right back and put the game away to stay with 3 in the 8th off the usually reliable (in 1994 anyway), Josias Manzanillo.

1994 was such a crazy season all around the league. The Mets came into this day with San Fran with essentially the same record, yet the Mets were 15 games out of 1st place, and the Giants were only 1 game behind LA in the west. Go figure.

Chris Jones (the Mets pinch hitter du jour at the time -- the Matt Franco type) is batting with two outs in the 9th inning. He hits a long fly ball that lands over the fence right near the right field foul pole. The "homer" would've won the Mets the game; the Umpire ruled it foul.

I'm pretty sure Dallas Green got ejected arguing, and Jones struck out to end the game.

I seem to remember getting free tickets from a kind season-ticket holder for this game.

Glenn, here are more details from your posting in March 2002. Chris Jones actually started this game and batted fifth for the Mets.

From retrosheet.org:

The Giants led 3-2 with two out and Chris Jones at bat for the Mets. Jones hit a drive to right field which appeared to be a game tying homer off Terry Mulholland. However, first base umpire Gary Darling ruled the ball foul, even though replays of the hit showed it hitting the fair pole. Mulholland struck out Jones on the next pitch to end the game.

Bobby Jones gives up a home run to Barry Bonds in this Mets victory. It is the 286th homer of Barry's career, and it's the 11,000th home run in Giants' franchise history.

Ironically, exactly 24 years earlier, on September 3, 1971, Barry's father Bobby Bonds hit the 8,000th homer in franchise history.

Todd Hundley had two three-run homers in this game along with another RBI for a total of seven on the day. Mark Clark went the distance for his second complete game victory of the year; at this point no other Met had pitched a complete game.

Rey Ordonez had two singles, two doubles, and two errors in the game. Rico Brogna also saved Ordonez from making two more errors when he made nice plays at first to save two bad throws.

One of the few games in modern Mets history that absolutely no one saw, unless you happened to be in San Francisco at the game in person.

Due to the rainout a couple of nights earlier, this was a double header, and though the first game of the day was shown on tv in New York, this nightcap could not be, as ESPN had exclusive "prime time rights" on Sunday night and they were showing a different game.

Probably a good thing, as it was a ho-hum Giants win, as Mark Gardner went the distance.

Taped this game years ago and watched it recently. A nice weekday afternoon game on Channel 9 (a rarity by the time the mid-90's came around). Definitely the best game that Paul Wilson ever pitched as a Met. And you could really see the fantastic stuff that he did have when he was fully healthy on this day. A shame that this was his high point with the team.

I agree with Michael. Wilson had the stuff of a true ace when he was healthy, which unfortunately wouldn't be for very much longer in 1996. Freshly shaved for the first time as a rookie, Wilson didn't allow another hit after a 4th inning double by Barry Bonds, ultimately tossing 8 shutout innings with 8 strikeouts. Wilson knew his day was done after the 8th, having thrown 99 pitches and due up in the bottom of the frame, and with the score still deadlocked at 0-0, the Mets needed to score a run to give Wilson his much deserved win. Thankfully, Jose Vizcaino came through with a 2-out single to plate Rey Ordonez, and then all that needed to happen was for John Franco to nail down the save.

But it was never that easy for these Mets. Stan Javier led off the 9th with a bunt single, which brought up Barry Bonds as the go-ahead run. Bonds smacked a deep flyball to CF that luckily got caught up in the stiff wind that was blowing in all day (and likely cost Matt Williams and Butch Huskey home runs earlier in the game, too), but Javier tagged up and moved to second base on the play. With the ever-dangerous Williams up next, I thought the Mets could have walked him with a base open and instead face Mark Carreon and attempt to get a double play. Pitching coach Greg Pavlick came to the mound to ask Franco what he wanted to do, and apparently Franco preferred going straight after Williams. It was a gutsy decision, but Franco came out looking like a genius as he struck out Williams, and then, after a 9-pitch battle, got Carreon to ground out to end the game.

Credit goes to Wilson and Giants starter Allen Watson for looking like Cy Young Award candidates, but the truth is both teams were really struggling to score runs at the time. Including this game, the Giants had scored just 12 runs in their last 7 games, and the Mets had only scored more than 4 runs once over their last 11 games. Didn't help that the Mets were missing Rico Brogna due to a bad shoulder, and gave Tim Bogar his first start of the season at 1B in this game. I'm still astonished at how little Carl Everett was being used at the time. The Mets easily could have started him in RF and Huskey at 1B. Everett was so far in Dallas Green's doghouse that nothing short of solving world hunger was getting him out.

The last game for Dallas Green as Met manager. Mets blew a 4-0 lead in a Sunday game ending a series at Dodger Stadium. It had been a dreadful August. By the time, they played in San Diego after a day off, Bobby V was the manager.

Bobby V's first win as Mets manager, and he messed up on a double switch confusing Gilkey with Everett. LOL, its so embarassing being a Mets fan

This was Mookie Wilson day ! $1 hot dogs and sodas. Andy Tomberlin has the key pinch hit. Was a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

A raw overcast day as the Mets and Giants played 2 making up the prior day's rainout. My father and I went to the game, and the place was largely empty. We sat in the field level boxes and as it was so empty figured we'd move up a few seats -- but nothing close to front row. At any rate, the Mets ran a 'moving on up' contest that day in which they awarded field level seats to a family seated in the upper deck. As chance would have it the family won the seats we had moved to. When my dad and I realized this we moved fast -- thinking what are the chances of that. Luckily plenty of other seats. Only other memory was of Olerud's first games at Shea as a Met. He got 4 hits that afternoon with his ultra-smooth left-handed swing.

This is the "Opening Day" that wasn't. The prior day was supposed to be the opener but it got washed out.

I got excited to be there and purchased loge box seats down the left field line expecting opening day ceremonies. Much to my chagrin there were no ceremonies. Joe McIllvaine was quoted as saying, "we just teed it up and played."

I count this as an "Opening Day" but in reality in 1997 there was no "Opening Day."

The home opener after a day of rain. Howard Johnson threw out the first pitch, after starting out Spring Training in 1997 with the Mets, trying to make the roster. He didn't and retired, so the fans gave him a nice ovation for his recent decision to hang it up.

As for the game, a weird moment as Jeff Kent seems to get very seriously hurt as he attempted to slide into 3rd. His neck and shoulder both got the bad end of it, players all gathered around him and the stretcher was even brought onto the field for him. From the looks of it, it was a season ending injury....yet Kent was literally back in the lineup the very next night. Very weird all around.

The Mets 4th straight loss, dropping them to 3-9 on the season. Greg McMichael blew an 8th inning lead and after the game, fans on the radio were calling for Bobby Valentine to be fired in his first full season. Little did everyone know that the team would go on to play pretty fantastic baseball from this point on, ending up with one of the most unexpected, satisfying years in Mets history. (At least counting years that didn't result in a playoff berth.)

This is a game I will always remember, because it was the first game I ever took my then 6 year old son to see. He was just getting into baseball at the time, and really took to the Mets. He loved John Olerud and purchased a Olerud key chain that day. And what a day it was as the Mets announced that they had resigned Bobby V and on top of that they scored 15 runs. During the game the Mets put his name, Jonathan on the scoreboard and wished him a happy 6th birthday. He was absolutely ecstatic and fell in love with the Mets at the Big Shea.

File this one as another of the wild and wacky 1998 Mets games.

Giants take a 4-0 lead on Leiter. But the Mets battled back in the 6th. Todd Pratt drilled a 2-run single, followed by an RBI single from Tony Phillips and an RBI groundout by Alfonzo. Luis Lopez doubled home a run in the 7th, and the Mets took a 6-4 lead into the 9th.

Except that it was another one of those John Franco 9ths. He gives up a quick run and has the tying run on base. 2 outs, 2 strikes on Bonds, you know he's going to turn over that changeup and try to drop it in on the inside corner.

Bonds lined it into RF for the tying hit. Franco was mercilessly booed as the inning ended.

In the 10th, Jose Mesa came in for the Giants and loaded the bases with nobody out. Piazza hit a shot, but right at Aurilia at SS, who threw home for the force. 1 out.

Brian McRae chopped one out to Snow at 1B. He threw home for the force. 2 out.

It came down to Lenny Harris. Harris worked the count full, then fouled off several borderline pitches from Mesa. Trying to get one he could hit. Waiting for Mesa to miss.

Finally, Mesa threw one in the dirt. Harris trotted to first, Olerud trotted home and the Mets took home a W.

Just watched this broadcast. A few corrections to the fan above me. Piazza hit a lazy chopper to the SS in the 10th inning for a force out, not a line drive. And Lenny Harris didn't foul any pitches off before his game winning walk. It was a 6-pitch at bat, 4 balls, 2 looking strikes. Lenny never actually swung the bat.

Great game and an important win in the wild card chase at the time. But it's a reminder that 1998 was really Franco's worst season as a Met. He had so many of these kind of appearances.

Thank you to Michael for making those corrections. There's a couple other things to clarify on top of what you pointed out. Phillips' hit in the 7th was a double, not a single. Bonds' game-tying single was a looper to CF, not a liner to RF. And Mesa had actually come in to pitch the 9th for the Giants, and then stayed in to pitch the 10th as well.

Franco was downright awful during this period in time. This was his third blown save in his last four chances. He had also just gone the month of July with a 9.00 ERA over 11 appearances, and certainly didn't start August any better. I'm surprised neither of the previous commenters brought up the Ordonez error in the 9th, though. With Shawon Dunston on first and 2 out, Franco threw to first and had Dunston picked off. The runner took off for second and Olerud threw to Ordonez covering, but Rey straight up missed the catch and Dunston was safe. That extended the inning, and after walking Ellis Burks, Franco gave up the single to Bonds to force extras. I don't know why, but it seemed like John always had the worst luck behind him, either with bad defense or whacky bounces or something strange. Still, his days of being a capable closer are over, and thankfully the Mets realized that when they traded for Armando Benitez during the offseason.

Speaking of Dunston, he was making his first ever start in CF in this game, so the Mets weren't the only team playing people out of position in the OF. Of course, I'm speaking of the Todd Hundley experiment. Hundley actually collected an OF assist in this one, throwing out Rich Aurilia trying to stretch a single into a double in the 6th inning. Todd also got his only hit of the season as a right-handed batter in the game, collecting a single off Rich Rodriguez in the 7th. For the year, Todd was 1 for 17 with 14 strikeouts as a right-handed batter. Yuck.

There were also bases loaded opportunities galore in this game. Bonds hit with the bases juiced in the 3rd and delivered with a 2-run single. The Mets then had the bases loaded in the 4th with 1 out but failed to score when Luis Lopez popped out and Al Leiter struck out. They had the same situation in the 6th but this time came through for 4 runs, with Pratt getting the big pinch-hit single. And they then loaded the bases with no one out in the 10th which led to the eventual walkoff win. But amongst their walkoff wins in 1998, I'd say this one ranks pretty low, only because both Piazza and McRae came up woefully empty, and Harris was either going to walk or strike out looking vs. Jose Mesa. He had no intention of swinging at all. His was the Mets' first walkoff walk since August of the previous season. As luck would have it, they'd get another walkoff walk in the series finale vs. San Fran, this time Luis Lopez playing the hero with Mesa again playing the culprit.

It was also perhaps time to start worrying about Leiter. After beginning the season not allowing 4 runs in any of his first 14 starts, he's now allowed 4 runs in 4 of his last 5. He was a mess in this game, allowing at least 1 baserunner every inning, walking 5 (one intentionally), hitting a batter, and only striking out 2. Starting to wonder if maybe he did indeed come back too fast from the knee injury he suffered against the Yankees in late June, because something just doesn't seem right.

First Met game in 5 years. Was a little disapointing with a 6-4 loss, but I remember Olerud throwing home to get Bonds on a triple play, and then Bonds got robbed of a home run by Brian McRae. The boo birds were out for him.

A wild afternoon game as the Giants scored 6 in the 8th to take the lead. But their bullpen couldn't hold the lead and for the 2nd time in 3 days, the Mets win the game on a walk.

One of the few bright spots in Hideo Nomo's Mets career as he threw a complete game win and ended the team's 3 game losing streak.

Also noteworthy, this was the last weekday afternoon game ever shown on WWOR channel 9 for the Mets. The rest of the schedule was weekend broadcasts.

I was at this game against the Giants and the story was Robin Ventura, who went insane on future Met Shawn Estes, needing a triple for the cycle. The Mets won 7-2.

I was at this game; they had a pre-game ceremony for John Franco for his 400th save, Tug McGraw showed up and the Mets even gave John a motorcycle as I recalled and the Mets won on a warm and sunny spring afternoon.

You do recall correctly, Shickhaus Franks. Tug actually rode the motorcycle in from the bullpen during the ceremony before gifting it to John.

Franco wasn't needed in the game as the Mets won pretty easily. Orel Hershiser beat the team he played for the previous year by throwing 6 solid innings, while the offense really put things out of reach in the 7th when Brian McRae connected for the first of 8 grand slams the Mets would hit in 1999 (and that's not counting Edgardo Alfonzo's and Robin Ventura's in the postseason). The Giants had come in to this series with the NL's best record, and the Mets have now beaten them pretty easily twice in a row, so confidence was really at a high point.

That wasn't the case for Bobby Bonilla, though. In his first action since missing 4 games, Bobby popped out on the first pitch pinch-hitting with the bases loaded in the 8th, and the crowd really let him have it. It's a shame such a nostalgic season has to be periodically ruined by the blight of Bonilla.

Also of note, Josias Manzanillo, in one of his final appearances with the Mets, struck out the side in the 7th, then hit for himself in the bottom half of the inning and smacked an opposite field single, his only hit in 12 career ML at-bats.

After a hiatus of a few years, the Mets had an "Old Timers Day" of sorts on this afternoon (the last one before this was in 1994).

This day, the Mets honored the 30th anniversary of the 1969 Mets. And they also brought back some old Cubs as well and the old Mets and them played a couple of innings. Unfortunately, this Old Timers Day was not shown on tv as ones from years past generally were, so unless you were there, you were out of luck.

As for the real game, the Mets completed the sweep of the Giants, scoring 2 in the 8th as Yoshii started to turn his season around.

I was watching this game happily on a Saturday afternoon as the Mets built up five-run lead against the Giants. In the eighth inning, the Fox Network switched to their main studio for a Game Break. They reported that Pee Wee Reese had just died. A solid victory for the Mets, but with sad moment to endure.

Pee Wee Reese wasn't the only former player to pass away on this date, either. Though much less notorious, Pat Mullin also died at the age of 81, the same age as Reese. Mullin played his entire career with the Tigers during the 1940s and 50s, missing 4 years due to service in WWII. He was a two-time All-Star outfielder who started in the 1948 All-Star Game over more renowned OFs like Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio.

After going down 1-0 in the 2nd when opposing pitcher Kirk Rueter hit an RBI double, the Mets came roaring back in the 4th, batting around and scoring 5 runs. The inning was highlighted by a Mike Piazza 2-run homer and a perfectly executed suicide squeeze that went for an RBI single by Rey Ordonez. The Mets tacked on one more in the 6th on a Benny Agbayani RBI double.

Both Piazza and Rickey Henderson had 4 hits, each tying his season high. On the mound, Orel Hershiser pitched very well for the win, and the combination of Turk Wendell, Dennis Cook and Billy Taylor pitched 3 scoreless innings. Only Shawon Dunston had a rough day. Though he did have a hit in 6 at-bats, he was called out on a stolen base attempt on a very close play in the first, grounded into a double play in the 6th when it looked like he was safe at 1st, and struck out on a check swing in the 9th when it looked like he had held up. To vent his frustrations, he threw his bat and helmet in anger after the strike out, which led to his ejection. I'd be pretty mad too after that string of bad luck.

The Mets first complete game of the year by a starter, and it's newly traded for Kenny Rogers.

They take 2 of 3 from the Giants as Ventura hits a grand slam into the upper deck of old Candlestick....the last time the Mets would ever play there.

I was at this game and new Met Kenny Rogers pitched an incredible game against the Giants, a complete game that gave Rogers his 4th win and made the Mets look even better in the playoff race. Huge win for the Mets, though I didn't know what would happen with Kenny Rogers a month later in Atlanta.

This was the first complete game a Met pitcher had thrown during the entire 1999 season.

This was a beautiful late summer weekday afternoon game that I attended with my Dad and brother. There is nothing quite like the September late afternoon sun at Shea Stadium. I can still see Dotel pitching in my mind to the Giants. He pitched so well that game. Whenever I hear Dotel's name I'm instantly transported back to this game watching him firing fastballs for strikes and making guys like Jeff Kent look ridiculous. This was one of the best regular season games I attended.

I remember watching this game and somewhere around the 7th inning Dennis Cook had thrown a beanball at Giants center fielder marvin Bernard. Now the weird thing about this beanball was that this time it was not so much about if Cook did it on purpouse or not it was more about who said what first. Now I believe Cook had called Bernard a midget then Bernard came running at him. I remember both teams collabarating on the field and no punches were thrown. It was funny to see Piazza restrain Benard and Bonds restrain Cook. Unfortunately it was a sour ending to a horrible series. I remember wearing my Mets cap in San Francisco and a guy in a Giants cap said are you the team we keep beating? I said no actually we have a better record and have a decent center fielder unlike you who has that midget. And the truth is what I said to that Giants fan is right. We kicked their ass in 3 games.

Irish Night at Shea. 50,000 fans, 40,000 of whom are drunk, and all of us know how many outs there are. Poor Benny gakks in leftfield and hands a caught fly ball to a fan with two outs and two on. He thought it was the 3rd out! Both runners score on the play!

It was a wonderful feeling to be there and support Agbayani in spite of his error. Even when he struck out with guys on base, which he did twice that night, it wasn't BOOOO! but AWWWW! Zeile finally bailed him out with a clutch 2-run double in the 8th and everyone went home happy. What a great game!

I remember seeing the look on Benny Agbayani's face after he realized that that wasn't the third out. I seriously thought that he was going to cry.

Yeah, Benny blew it in the 4th. We all forgave him a few months later. Zeile's 2 run 2B in the 7th was the key blow. An old man sitting a few rows up from me in the Mezz got so cranked up, he jumped up when the ball was hit, and went spilling down a few rows until he landed right on my back. Scared the daylights out of me because I thought he was dead. Nope. Just excited. Wasn't even hurt either, although I'm sure he felt it the next day.

I was one of the drunk 40,000 and was sitting Field level not too far from where Benny handed the ball to a fan with 2 out. I sat on the Barry Bonds side of the field. I think Mike Bordick went yard to left field as well. I was driving a rental car and drove back to motel after Mets went ahead in 7th to avoid a traffic mess and and got home in time to see Armando get the last out.

I remember sitting in Left Field for this game. We lost sight of Benny catching the ball, and all we could see were Giants running the bases and wondering why Benny didn't throw the ball back to the infield. It wasn't til we got home and saw the replays that we found out what happened.

Wow. I wish I could say this was an exciting game but it wasnt too exciting, it just meant a lot. It was a battle of the pitchers, and it was all about who was the best. Therfor, nobody really hit much. But I did have a lovely sunny sunday afternoon in park when it was supposed to be raining.

I went to the game with my brother that day. It was Jewish Day that day. The starting lineups were announced in Hebrew. This was one of the best games I've seen Leiter pitch. He went 8 innings of 2-hit ball with 12 strikeouts. He mowed down that Giant lineup one by one.

I went to this game with the New York Giants Historical Society. It was our excursion and we put the picture in the newsletter. A bunch of guys wearing New York Giants orange-and-black.

I was the only one rooting for the Giants. All the older guys shifted allegiances to the Mets when Willie Mays left town.

Al Leiter was tremendous, but I was rooting for the visitors. TO make matters worse, when they welcomed our group on the Instant Replay screen, they put up my name in 80-billion-point type....

....and misspelled it.

That was very upsetting. I've had that done to me all my life...on letters, certificates, even award plaques.

Never forgot that day.

A great game that I went to with my best buddy from high school. Leiter was totally dominate, shutting down Kent and Bonds and the rest of the Giants for 8 innings. The funniest thing was when Leiter told Mad Dog Russo after the game to "Kiss his butt!" Way to stick it to Fatso and Fruit Loops, Al!

My first game. My brother and I went with my uncle and his wife, BIG Giants fans. We came in plenty of time to watch the Asian Night festivities. Rick Reed sailed through the first five innings, then blew up to the tune of a five run sixth. Dennis Cook followed during the seventh, and gave up six runs in a third of an inning! Russ Ortiz shut the Met bats down, despite walking six. Basically, the only bright spot was an eigth inning Jay Payton home run that barely cleared the fence. An embarrassment for the eventually NL Champions, but a great time nonetheless.

Attended this game with my best friend. Game was moving along nicely, then BOOM...the Giants sleeping bats awakened lol. At least my friend and I got to move down to field level.

In the third inning, Mike Hampton threw a pitch to Barry Bonds that passed over the outside edge of the plate. Hampton thought it was an inning-ending third strike, and began to walk towards the dugout. He didn't get the call. I don't know that it should have been called a strike, but it certainly could have been called a strike. Bonds stayed alive though, and hit an RBI triple. Jeff Kent then walked, and Ellis Burks hit a three-run homer that gave the Giants a 5-1 lead. If only that umpire had made a different call, four runs wouldn't have scored, and the game might have had a very different outcome.

Of course, the Giants hit in the clutch and the Mets didn't, so I guess the deserving team won after all.

This game was typical Hampton: He got a bad call, and pouted just long enough to lose the game.

Sure the ptich to Bonds should have been called for an inning ending 3rd strike. Sure Bonds should have never been granted the opportunity to get another swing and become the catalyst of a game deciding big inning. And sure the Mets might have won that game might that inning have not occurred. But I believe that Bonds triple was the best thing that happened for the Mets in the 2000 post season. Please recall, Derek Bell hurt his ankle on fielding that play and was replaced by the over-achieving Timo Perez for the remainder of the post season. My opinion, but No Timo......no National League Championship.

One pitch meant the whole game in Game 1 of the NLDS between the Mets and the Giants. It was a pitch to Barry Bonds that should have been called strike 3 but it wasn't and Hampton got mad and when Hampton gets mad, he gets bad. So what resulted? Barry Bonds lines a pitch into right and it goes off a wall and Derek Bell makes a bad turn and gets injured and hops over to the ball and throws it in and it's an RBI triple for Bonds and Bell's season and career with the Mets is over. Then Ellis Burks steps up against Hampton and hits a three-run shot down the line and the Mets lose.

I never like to see anyone get hurt - well, maybe except Roger Clemens - but let's face it, folks. The Mets got their biggest break of the year when Derek Bell pulled up with an injury. It was a blessing in disguise, as Bell completely disappeared the second half of the year and it opened the door for Timo Perez's great run. If only he hadn't been the flash in the pan he turned out to be...

I remember feeling so excited before the game started--it was postseason baseball and it was a day game, so I could see the whole thing (I was 12 years old at the time). For some reason a moment that sticks in my mind about that game was when Jay Payton lined a shot that tore a hole in Bill Mueller's glove at third, but that he was able to hang onto it. Mostly for me, I was just so animated to see the Mets in the postseason again that it didn't matter that it was probably the second least memorable game the whole postseason.

This has to go down as one of the biggest wins and most memorable games in Met history. After having been embarrassed in Game 1, on the road, against an excellent team, we give up a 3-run lead on a dreamatic HR by Snow off Benitez, but we hold them there, then we score on em, then we hold em again, as Franco catches Bonds looking. This game gave the Mets the confidence to take the series -- and the next.

I'm a life-long Giant fan and was actually at this game, but I can assure you my feelings and emotions about game 2 aren't the same ones you guys have. When Snow hit the home run off of Benetiz I pretty much thought the series was over. Snow was probobaly the last guy on the planet I would ever expect to get a hit of that magnitude. Granted, it was a 310 foot fly ball, but when the ball left the year, I was sure that the Giants were finally going to get that elusive WS title. Only the Giants could find a way to lose that game. As hard fought and brutal of a loss as game 3 was in NY, I knew that the Giants wouldn't be back at PacBell as I left after Game 2. That was the back-breaker. Gotta give you guys credit because 99 out of 100 teams would fold tent after an emotional let down like that, the Mets didn't. I've seen a lot of bad loses in my years as a Giant fan, but that night at PacBell is at the top of the list.

Typical Armando, thank you Johnny Franco. The changeup on the inside corner that we've seen for years was used at the best time ever.

For Johnny Franco, my all-time favorite Met player of all time, this was the moment of a surefire Hall-Of-Fame career. I'm not married, don't have kids, so that may have been the happiest moment of my life (may live on past the kids as well). Of course, it's targeted for elimination when the final out of the New York Mets fantasy World Series championship is made.

As a Mets fan who came of age in fandom in the mid 1990s, there aren't that many games to pick from in terms of all-time favoirtes, but I think this one takes it for me. It just sent you through the wringer, and really, starting early on. Al pitching so well, then Fonz "clinching" the game in the 9th with that home run.

But of course, Benitez had his say before the night was through, and then the game's over for the second time that night with JT Snow, and there goes the season. Then, comes I think Bobby V's finest managerial moment or two.

First, he went out as soon as the ball was gone, settled Armando, and he got the side out. And next was the most unexpeceted thing, showing such heart, they had to win it there with the momentum that was swinging, with Hamilton and Payton. Finally, Bobby V did his thing again, the great change, and then that other great change, that back-up by Franco. It was from game won, to season lost, to series won in the span of one hour. Incredible theater.

Game 2: 5-2 Mets, bottom of the ninth, 2 runners on, Benitez on the mound, 2 outs, J.T. Snow. He hits it down the right field line, it's gone and the game is tied. Benitez settles down, gets the final out of the inning, game tied at 5, the Mets score and then Fracno comes in and the last pitch to Bonds, he doesn't swing, his knees lock, called strike 3, and the Mets tie the series at 1.

I attended this game in my Met colors.

At the many games I attended at Candlestick over the years, there were TONS of orange and blue hats, shirts, etc. Lots of Met fans at the 'Stick.

Wow, was it a different scene at Pac Bell, especially for the playoffs. I waited outside for a friend and saw ONE Met hat during half an hour. Inside I saw scattered Met fans but none nearby.

So, I didn't make any friends at all with my Mets cheering, which was, as usual, passionate, loud, constant, and clean.

God, when Fonzie's HR cleared the wall did I go nuts. That's when people started getting nasty.

I knew when Jeff Kent beat out that cheap-ass infield hit that doom was imminent. I left my seat and watched from the wings and said to myself, if Benitez gives up an HR, I am outta here.

And damn if that punk JT Snow didn't hit a whiffle ball HR into the RF cage. Have never seen or heard a stadium so loud. I was in a taxi before Snow touched home plate.

So, I watched the end of the game at home. We had a small place then - a little studio while we shopped for a house. My wife was asleep about 10 feet from where I was sitting with the TV on quietly. I was trying to be considerate.

When Franco caught Bonds looking, I opened the window and yelled as loud as I could 'sit down, Barry', 'take that, San Francisco' etc. etc. Lots of things a 39 yr old man should not be doing, but it was the Mets in the playoffs!! My wife tried to be happy for me while telling me to shut up...

Thanks to Fonzie (who else?) the Snow HR did not sink us that night.

Bonds knees buckling and looking at a called strike three from an over-the-hill Johnny Franco is a top-10 all-time Met moment. The Snow home run is an all-time bottom-10. What a swing of emotions in just a few minutes. It's not Game 6 of '86 but it was a wild ride.

When some teams go into the playoffs, they either win easily or lose easily. That never seems to be the case with the Mets. Their postseason series tend to be one nailbiter after another. This game was no exception. It went over five hours, and the last three hours or so were unbelievably tense. The Mets' bullpen, Wendell, Cook, Franco, Benitez, and White all did great jobs holding the tough Giants offense scoreless for seven innings. With one out in the bottom of the 13th, Benny Agbayani ended the game suddenly with a long home run to left field. I jumped so high off my La-Z-Boy that I shook the whole house. I continued jumping up and down until I twisted my ankle. Then I hopped on one foot for a while. And of course Shea went absolutely wild. They played that silly "Who Let the Dogs Out" song, which I'll now forever associate with Benny Agbayani's homer. WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!

BENNY! BENNY! What another freakin amazing game! I can't believe last night's game. Shea is a magical place and something told me not to worry...somehow the Mets would squeeze out a victory. Who let the dogs out!?! On this night Benny Agbayani did! LETS GO METS! LETS GO METS! LETS GO METS!

I was at the game — in Row T of the upper deck, three rows from the top of the stadium! Assuming that since baseball was being played it must still be summertime and 75 degrees out, I wore shorts and a short-sleeved Mets jersey to the game. As one can imagine, I nearly froze to death, but once Benny hit that one out it was all worth it.

Being Jewish and Orthodox, I have never been to a Saturday game. But I had tickets for this one, and damned if I wasn't going to make every effort to be there. So I walked to the ballpark from my apartment and carried nothing with me. And what can I say? God himself must have given his nod of approval because he rewarded me with the most nailbiting, pulsating, mindblowing game I have ever attended in my 25 years of following this team! From the tomahawk chop sendoff to the Braves in the top of the first, to Benny's memorable game-winning blast five and a half hours later, it was a game for the ages. And it was crisp and well-played: no errors, no wild pitches, lots of clutch pitching from both teams. And Benny Agbayani, already one of the most popular players on the Mets, elevated his status to that of all-time Met legend.

I scored tickets last minute and gathered some people to go. We hit traffic on the bridge and didnt get there till the 6th inning. we were quite disapointed for coming so far for a few measly innings. But boy were we mistaken! this was the most exciting ending to a game ive ever been to! I'd never understood why Mets fans have such a liking for Benny Agbayani, but after this night, I knew why! that makes up for his blunder on aug. 12, and then some.

I was at the game, upper deck, behind 3rd. By the time Benny came up, my voice was finished, but with the last of my vocal cords I yelled, "Benny if you hit a homer, I will wear a shirt with your name on it!" I know he heard me. I looked for the shirt for months! Someone at Modell's told me there are no Agbayani jerseys because Benny was a scab, which might be true. There are some fakes for sale on eBay, and I do owe Benny still. I've gotten several balls signed by Benny, and I have a photo which he signed, with "GWHR". Benny, I'll get that jersey and to hell with the Players Association!

the 1-0 to agbayani...and a high fly ball deep left field, back goes bonds, looking up at the wall, that ball is..outta here!

I watched this game on TV with a couple of friends of mine. One was a Yankee fan, but we'll forgive him for that. The other was a Mets fan who had only recently started watching baseball. He was not fully aware of the Mets postseason history, particularly the Robin Ventura grand slam single game of 1999. By the 11th or 12th inning, he began to have trouble watching the game. I responded by reminding him of all the long and wacky postseason games in Mets history. That didn't help him much. He left the room a few times because he couldn't take it. Finally, Agbayani hit the HR to win it, but none of us really saw it, because we were all jumping around and screaming as if we ourselves were Mets. And that would be his baptism to Mets postseason baseball.

Best game ive ever gone to in my life. It was back when timo was good (for those 2 weeks)and showed fonzie at his most clutch. It was soo cold that nite and the guy we were sitting in back of got mad because my friend kicked his seat by accident. But when that ball went over bonds' head, we all joined as met fans and jumped and went crazy. The giants fan who was laughing as the giants didnt fall behind for 13 innings, went home unhappy, haha. "agbayani Hits one into deep left center, 13th inning, Mets win game 3"- fox broadcaster joe buck.

I went to the game with a couple friends and had a great time. I am avid Mets fan and was delighted to watch such an exciting and close game. I can remember following the action closely for all 13 innings. It was a defining moment when Agbayani hit the homer in the bottom of the 13th to win the game. Everyone was yelling and screaming to celbrate the Mets unbelievable victory. It was one of the best and most exciting baseball games I have ever been to.

I was at this game, for some reason I went to Shea with no ticket. It was sold out but they told me to stand in line because there might be some cancellations or something. So a bunch of people including me stayed in line for about an hour and we got tickets. I paid $100 for a seat a few rows behind home plate, it was worth it. Getting to the game about 3 hours early, waiting in line, and paying 100 bucks to see one the greatest games ever. Thank you Benny.

This was the greatest baseball game I've ever been to. It was freezing cold that night. Russ Ortiz pitched well for the Giants. The Mets were down, and then Robb Nen comes in to face Fonzie with the trying run on, and I believe on the first pitch Fonzie hit a double right down the right field line, and then went into extra innings when Benny ended things with his homer. Everyone was hugging each other all around. It was a great moment that I remember like it was yesterday.

I was at a Who concert on this night and I had tickets to Game 4 and I had been to some great games: the Todd Pratt homer to send the Mets to the NLCS in '99, the "grand single" game in the NLCS, and the game where the Mets clinched the wild card that year so I really wanted the Mets to win on this night.

The Who concert was at Madison Square Garden and the Met game was on one of the TV's right next to the pizza stand and I got there early and the game was in the 10th already and I watched and, by the 11th, everyone had surrounded me as we watched the TV screen.

We just wanted Robb Nen or Felix Rodriguez to just blow it already so we could go to our seats but they didn't and neither did the Mets and, in the 12th, the Who concert started but none of us went in and, in the 13th, Benny Agbayani stepped up and hit one into the seats and the Mets won! Plus the Who concert was great.

How many other people can say that their first regular season AND post-season game they attended each ended with walk-off homers in extra innings?? (See my comments on the 9/20/75 game).

Personally I think this is one of the most underrated games in Met history, albeit I'm probably biased. Sure, the Pratt homer the year before won the series, but it was the NLDS no less than this was. And the Ventura grand slam single? Um...we lost that series. Perhaps the fact that Jones' closed the Giants out with that improbable 1-hitter the next day also robs this game of the notoriety it deserves.

The thing that I remember most about this (aside from feeling the stadium shake under me, which until now I'd only experienced once, for Seaver's return game in '83) was, sitting in Section 1 of the Upper Deck - right behind home plate, how the wind seemed to be blowing straight in and my buddy and I remarking to one another that NO BALL was getting out of Shea this night. When Benny hit the ball I thought some great invisible Met in the sky caught it and pushed it and pushed it into the left field bullpen. In our section we had a perfect view of the luv scrum at home plate and even from our perch we could see that ear-to-ear smile on Benny's face.

Another fun thing about that game was way back in the 1st inning, the Braves score went final and they had been swept by the Cardinals. And you had 50,000 plus in Shea Stadium doing the tomahawk chop. Priceless.

Thank you Bobby Jones! What an amazing game! The Mets win the most exciting games I have ever seen in the post-season. Last night, Benny wins the game witha an extra inning walk off home run, today Bobby Jones wins the game with a one-hitter (if only Robin were 6 inches taller). Anyway, I am extremely proud to be a Mets fan (just as I was in 1994 when I went to 22 games as a teenager) and am extremely grateful to my fiance for getting us tickets for the two division series games at Shea.

Great performance.

We miss you Fresno!

Arguably the greatest game ever pitched by a Mets pitcher!

A magnificent game, which I had travelled down from Binghamton that morning to see. Fresno left the Giants flailing away at pitch after pitch, and by the 5th, the game was out of reach. By the end, the chants of "BOBBY JONES!! BOBBY JONES!!" echoed throughout the stadium. And in the parking lot, I saw five young men circled around a cell phone screaming "Who let the dogs out!!" More fitting should have been Who let Bobby Jones out?

I was 17 years old at the time, I worked at a Burger King in Astoria. During work my girlfriend at the time came to my job and surprised me with tickets to the game that afternoon. I was hyped to go, but the game started at 4 and I got out of work at 5. So I did what any 17 year old would do. Fake a sickness. I did, and my supervisor actually bought it. I grabbed some food, and went to the game. Oh boy was it worth it. To see Bobby Jones mow down the Giants 1 by 1 was sweet. When the crowd started chanting Bobby Jones I knew I was watching one of the best Met games in my life. The icing on the cake was when that jackass Balco Bonds ended the game by flying out to Payton. I went bonkers after that.

I was at this game and I was happy with Bobby V's decision to start Bobby Jones instead of Glendon Rusch and it turned out to be an incredible decision because Bobby Jones almost pitched a no- hitter and I thought he would before Jeff Kent hit a double in the fifth and in the ninth, it was a fitting end: Barry Bonds comes up and hits a line drive and Jay Payton is right there and the Mets win and "Who Let the Dogs Out" comes on and, for the second year in a row, I was at the game that sent the Mets to the NLCS.

Sorry mom I played hooky from work to attend this game. I'll be damned if I was going to miss one of the biggest games in the history of this great franchise to flip burgers at Burger King. (Even though I needed the money for my senior trip to Florida.) Anyway Fresno Jones pitched one of the greatest games I've ever seen anybody pitch. Man he was mowing the Giants down one by one. When he got Barry Bonds to fly out to end the series I knew it was a matter of time.

Great playoff game to be at. Beautiful weather, and a 1 hitter- by Bobby Jones, of all people. It hurt a little that Kent got the only hit.

Great game. Little talked about fact in my opinion is this would have/could have been a perfect game. Kent led off the 5th with a screamer off Ventura's glove for a double. The score was 2-0 at the time. He got real careful with the runner on 2d and walked the bases loaded with 2 outs (Baker also got blasted for letting the pitcher hit here). These were the only baserunners SF had in the game, I always felt if Ventura would have caught Kent's smash, Jones sets them down in order as he did the whole game. One of the best I ever saw...Bobby Jones???

Charlie's right -- it was very close to a no-hitter, but it was also very close to one of those games that suddenly unravels. Sitting in the Upper Deck behind home plate, high enough for the winds to freeze my neck, I was absolutely convinced it was all about to come apart there in the 5th. Dusty must have been as well or he'd have pinch-hit for his pitcher there. Was a good explanation ever offered?

Will never forget this game, beautifully pitched and all of us standing on our seats singing, "Who let the dogs out"!

This was the greatest pitched game that I have ever seen in person. I have seen all sorts of great Mets pitchers over the years.but Bobby Jones pitched the game of his life on this day.

Even though I was keeping a scorecard, I did not realize that Bobby had a one-hitter going until I asked the person next to me whether he thought Bobby V would leave Bobby Jones in for the 9th. The person mentioned the one-hitter and I checked the scorecard and sure enough.

This game was also the only time I saw the Mets clinch anything. In 1981, I saw the Expos (with Gary Carter) clinch the second half-season of the NL East at Shea on the next-to-last-day of the season.

Weird game.

Mets almost rallied but I believe both Relaford and Zeile got hosed on K calls with a few aboard in the last inning.

And I remember Rob Nen SPRINTING like a bat out of hell from the bullpen in between the top and bottom of the 9th, desperately trying to save the game before a massive rain storm rolled in. It did delay the game, and the Mets antics in the bottom of the 9th occurred about an hour later.

Bonds goes deep and is ejected after whiffing in the 8th. Mets offense consists of a Vaughn bomb to right and a RBI squeeze bunt by Ordonez. For as bunt-happy as the Mets of recent vintage have been (I'm talking the Randolph and Manuel Eras) they never use the squeeze.

This was the game where they filmed the scene from "2 Weeks Notice" starring Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant where Piazza played himself and told poor Sandra in his one line, "Next time go to a Yankees game."

Well I must say I am very pissed off. I went to this game and Giants fans were booing me and on top of that the Mets played like a bunch of sissys. We need help badly!

I still cringe when watching a replay of Mike Piazza getting out of the way of Jason Schmidt's pitch and then going down like he was shot. My heart was in my throat for like 10 minutes. I fell asleep listening to the game on WFAN and the next morning, I was going to get my paper and some wiseass made a crude joke about Piazza's injury. (I was wearing a Mets shirt and cap.) I was thisclose to giving him a Ultimate Fighting beating but my friend held me back.

Oh boy what a great game, the best game Glavine pitched all year. I remember Jason Ellison running in the batter's box and was called out, and also Gallaraga making the last out of the game. Also Giants fans left early because they were down 4 runs.

Come on!!! I know Barry Bonds is great and all but do Mets fans have to give him a standing ovation when he hits a home run? No way. I can't figure it out. I'm a Met fan and I root for the Mets first and everything else is secondary. I respect Barry Bonds but I would never cheer an opponents home run, never. It was nice to see the Mets fans give Alfonso a standing O as a great ex-Met (who has pretty much crapped the bed for the Giants) but that was only applauding his appearance in the game. If he had homered I would not have appluaded. There is a difference and I would not applaud Bonds' appearance. But he is awesome. The Homer he hit off of Weathers in the 9th was a rocket shot. It's amazing that he is hitting over .500 against Weathers. It was nice to see Heilman get a win but he was hardly great. He could have easily lost. Also nice to see Grant Roberts have a decent inning.

The Mets announcers said that Mets fans got what they wanted, a Bonds show and a Mets win. Please! I root for a no-hitter every game I see, not for the opponent to have a great game but lose.

I think this was the game where the Mets had a video tribute to Edgardo Alfonzo who had ended up with the Giants. Nice moment.

Piazza's return after a long DL stint is highlighted by a HR and five-RBI night. The nice thing is that the Mets now are resembling a team with a complete offensive attack. They're stealing bases, hitting homers... It's interesting that the Mets are a much better team than when Piazza got hurt and now his role has changed. While statistically Piazza is a leader, he's like anyone else in reacting to what's going on around him. Finally, for the first time in a few years, there's something positive going on. I think the Mets will give a lot of people trouble down the stretch and could spoil someone's playoff chances at some point.

The Mets were supposed to play the next night on Thursday when the big power outage happened at around 4pm ET. The game was called off even though the weather was perfect and wasn't played at all even though the Giants were 9 games ahead in the NL West at the time (They won by 15 plus games so there was NO reason to make it up). I remember WFAN radio broadcasting the Yankee game (they were in Baltimore) so WCBS radio could give wall to wall coverage of the power outage that night.

Nice win vs. a Bond-less Giants team. Trachsel went 8 and Jason Phillips & Mike Cameron provided some nice clutch offense.

Like everyone else, I was royally irked that Barry Bonds sat out with a "sinus infection." However there was some compensation (other than the win). Donald Trump was at the game. As soon as he sat down the shouts of "You're Fired!" started. The first 5 or 6 times were funny, but by the 7th inning it was getting to be annoying. I guess the poor guy, I mean VERY VERY wealthy guy hears it all the time. But Trump was very courteous when fans wanted to take his picture. I got one with him smiling with his very very eye delicious "significant other" sitting next to him. I bet Trump never let a "sinus infection" prevent him from becoming who he is. Maybe he told Barry Bonds "You're Fired" before the game.

Went to this game with my wife of 1 year. Our fisrt Met game together. We had great covered Loge seats, Which was big as there was a long rain delay. Barry Bonds didn't play as he was out with an illness. The fans were dissapointed, however the Mets played well and won the game after the long delay. We had a great time and came back to see Mike's record breaking homer against the Rockies.

This was the first game I attended in 2004. As has been the habit of my first game of each season, Mike Piazza has hit a Home Run. He successfully did this in 1999, 2000 and 2001 previously. In his defense, he did not play in my first game of 2003.

He would do it this year, in his first AB against Jerome Williams. however, and this one was memorable. This was #352.

Then the rains came, and some concern that the game would be called. My friend and I stood in the ramps and mused over, should the came be called, how many times we would have to hear Fran Healy say "He had to break the record...TWICE!"

But no, the game resumed, the Mets blasted the Giants pen in the 8th, and Mike did not have to break the record twice.

This is a game I will remember for a long time. Some dramatic moments that reminded me of the playoffs in 2000, when Weathers struck out Feliz with the bases loaded, and of course Piazza's dramatic game winning home run over the head of the best player in baseball.

Just a total pitching classic between two of the top pitchers. Leiter was much more efficent than he usually is. Leiter got Bonds out three times as the crowd was jacked. Schimdt was dominant for the Giants. Garcia hit a huge homer to tie it up. Weather came in the 11th , and got a huge out to end the inning with a 3-2 slider to Felix with the bases loaded. We saw by far the most emotion we've ever seen from Howe. Piazza hit the walk off homer in the 11th. Just a great great game.

Piazza walk-off HR to end it in the 11th.

Mets pitching got Bonds out the first 3 times, walked him intentionally in the 9th (no one on, 2 outs) and in the 11th (1 man on, 2 outs) and it worked both times.

Went back to NY after 13 years. Took our 8-month-old son to his first ever ball game. Watched Piazza win it in the 11th. Was surprised Leiter pitched 8 IP end gave up only 1 ER.

Of all the home runs that Metal Mike hit for the New York Mets, this one is 3rd best in my opinion right after the one he hit vs the Braves in Game 6 of the 1999 NLCS and of course the dinger he hit on that emotional night of Sept 21st of 2001. Still remember the back page of the next day's Daily News where Piazza is celebrating with the headline screaming: SHEA GOOD NIGHT!

This game has been immortalized forever courtesy of a Mets bottle opener that I now use as a good luck charm. Whenever you open a bottle with it, Gary Cohen's dramatic call plays out of a small speaker:

"Brower delivers. And a drive in the air to deep left field, back goes Bonds to the track, near the wall, jumping... IT'S OUTTA HERE!!! MIKE PIAZZA WINS THE GAME!!! A line drive homer over the left field wall, and the Mets win it in the bottom of the 11th inning!"

Will never forget this game because I sat right in front of the Mets on deck circle, and after getting Piazza’s attention I told him “Mikey’s gonna go Yard, Mikey’s going yard” in the 11th, and he smiled and tipped his cap at me. Then he went and hit the walk off home run, and told the usher to give his batting gloves to the kid who called the home run. Still have the glove till this day AND they have a video clip of me doing the Wayne’s World I’m not worthy bow, which has been in multiple Mets documentaries and is also in Piazza’s Hall of Fame documentary. Best Mets moment EVER!!

What a great day at Shea. Sunny, 76 degrees, with a soft wind blowing. Glavine seemed to be finally back on track, Piazza went 3 for 4, Wright went 2 for 4, and Cameron hits a 1st inning HR to RF. Wright and Floyd later had a double-steal, and Chris Woodward (filling in for the slumping Meintkiewicz) made two fantastic plays - one a 3 to 6 to 3 DP and a fantastic dive to his right on a diving stab at a line drive. . . pretty good for a non-firstbaseman.

WOW! What a game!

First, Barry Bonds' pinch-game-tying 2-run jack in the 9th totally takes the wind outta my sails...

Then, the Mets strand the bases loaded in the top of the 10th...

All is lost! Woe is us!

But wait!

Castro's bloop single, Chavez's bunt, Woodward's double in front of a clearly crippled Bonds plating Castro then Reyes with the base hit...

METS WIN! METS WIN! THEY WIN!

For a moment I thought I was gonna lose it. Not again, twice in this series he was gonna save a game. No it just can't be true. Of course I am talking about Armando Benitez the Met killer. It's truly amazing when you have a guy who cannot save big games for you, but then you trade him and all he does is come back to haunt you. But not today. Valentin and Milledge go yard for an unbelievable comeback to tie the game. But unfortunately we would lose this one in the 12th. Such a shame to lose this game after coming back. Would have been first time this team would have been 13 games over .500. Now we go on one hell of a road trip: 3 in L.A., 4 in Arizona and 3 in Philly. Mets need to go at least 6 and 4 on this trip. Could be turning point of the sesason. We will just have to wait and see what unfolds.

This is a fine example of how great this game of baseball is and how it can humble you at times during a 162 game season.

First baseball might have to take a long and hard look at instant replay just for home runs. Because this is twice in less than a week that the Mets have been victimized by a wrong home run ruling.

Second the Mets looked like they were getting out of that horrible 9-run inning with just the umpire-aided home run but it was not meant to be. Two tough errors and then the doors were blown off the FORD!!! I stayed up till after 1 a.m. to watch thinking maybe, just maybe the Mets could come back. They tried they really did try but came up a little bit short.

Third and my last point is why didn't anyone go out and talk to Oliver Perez after Shaun Green's error? It befuddles me! You would think with all of his so-called mental lapses, him losing his arm angle, someone would have went out to talk to him. No they went to talk to him after they scored I don't know 4 or 5 more runs. I think that was too late. I love the way Oliver has pitched so far this year but I think he needed a go get them rah! rah! rah! pep talk after the second error.

The Queens Baldies have won their second straight after shedding their locks. Delgado hits his second of the year and David Wright's clutch bases loaded double in the ninth wins it for the Mets.Good to see David coming through again. Looks like things are getting better for David at the plate, he looks more relaxed, must be the new haircut!

One of the best and most unusual finishes to a Mets game. I remember that the Mets were down early 2-0 after Perez gave up 2 first inning bombs. Delgado eventually tied up the game with a 2 run blst in the fourth after the Mets had been pretty much dominated by Lincecum through the first 3 innings.

I left to go pick up my wife from work just as the Giants were tying up the game in the 7th, man was I bummed about that.

Anyways by the time I got back the game was still on and the Giants had first and third and 1 out and Winn at the plate. They scored the run on the grounder to first. (Still don't understand why Delgado bothered to get the out at first.)

Then the bottom of the 12th: Reyes walks. Then came the first balk. Chavez gets the bunt down. Then when Beltran failed to get the run in I thought that was it, game over. Then as Delgado stepped to the plate I see him point out at the pitchers mound, then I hear Dusty Baker say "they are calling another balk, I can't believe it". As Reyes walked home I was jumping up and down. Then Delgado goes deep and I think I danced around my living room for about 5 minutes as my wife looked at me wondering what the hell I was doing. I will remember this game for as long as I live.

Thinking back to this game makes me sad. A truly fantastic ending (and in my view an underrated great moment from recent Mets teams). But those first 2 months of the 2007 season were the last time that you could say that the Mets really were the BEST team in the National League. Despite the 06 playoff loss (helped brought on by last second pitching injuries), the 2007 Mets started out like gangbusters and were rolling through the league just like the year before and dominating. And then soon after this Delgado walk off homer, the team would pretty much play .500 ball for the rest of the long season. (And despite the 2008 Mets being a good team, we've never again felt the Mets being the best team in the league at any given time.)

Oliver Perez was horrible in this game. 1/3 IP is unacceptable and the Mets need to address this issue. I can't understand why a guy with his stuff cant be more consistent. Mets need to forget this one and finish this series off with a couple of wins to keep the momentum going. Can't wait to see how Pedro does tomorrow.

My last Shea Stadium game. I actually get choked up thinking about it. It was such a beautiful day, I’m glad they won.

Love the aggressive base running by the Mets in this game. Good to see they are taking advantage of the speed that they have. Nice game by Wright, 3 hits and 4 stolen bases. Big hit by Castro to give K-Rod a 3-run cushion, although it seems as if all he needs is one run and he closes the door. Maine pitched a great game once again, unfortunately the bullpen could not hold it. Parnell gave up the 2 runs in the 8th, but I don't think he pitched all that badly. Two of the hits were infield hits, just some bad luck for him. Honestly thought the Mets would not have much energy for this game considering the cross country flight yesterday, but they came out with the energy that they need to exhibit all year long. And by the way, the win allows them to add a full game lead on the Phillies and Marlins and a 1/2 game lead on the Braves.

Mets steal 7 bases, a franchise record. Wright becomes first Met to steal four bases since Roger Cedeño accomplished the feat exactly 10 years earlier, on May 14, 1999.

What a relief!! Mets finally score runs for Santana, man did he deserve those runs. Wish the defense could have been better as errors by Castillo, Wright, and Cora made the game closer that it should have been. Nice to see Putz close out the game with 95 on his fastball. Mets need him and K-Rod at full strength all year long. Nice start to a very tough road trip for the Mets.

The infamous game where David Wright gets beaned by the Giants Matt Cain. The sound of the ball hitting his helmet went right through me as I watched on TV. It was the WORST beaning of a Mets player since Piazza was beaned on PURPOSE on July 8, 2000 by that STEROID TAKING REDNECK MONSTER BULLY Roger Clemens.

I was at this game with my dad. Bottom of the ninth, score knotted up at two runs apiece... Frenchy Francoeur leads off with a hit, Fernando Tatis sacs him to second... then Daniel Murphy drives Francoeur home with a hit!

Bedlam ensues as the crowd goes wild and the Mets mob their heroes on the field! I think it was the first walk-off game I ever saw. Needless to say, it was a happy ride home back to NJ for both me and Dad.

My second game at Citi Field, nearly a year to the day after my first. Had great seats in section 12 of the Delta Club for the team's first walkoff win at the new yard. Ike Davis and Rod Barajas each went deep twice. So much for Bengie Molina, lol!

My first game at Citifield. I went with two of my younger brothers, and it was kind of bittersweet not being with our father.(rip) BUT.. I had to say goodbye to Shea by visiting the plaques in the parking lot representing the infield before entering the new home.

What a game to see for it to be our first one there! A Pelfry win, 2 dingers by the new star of the team Ike Davis, and 2 by our catcher WITH a walk-off. I'll never forget this one!

Tough ending to this series for the Mets. Loved the way they came back to win the first 2 games with walk off homers from Barajas and Blanco. What was exposed in this series, however, is that the bullpen has been taxed through the first month of the season. Nieve, Mejia, and others have been used way to much. Most of the blame needs to go to Perez and Maine who have been awful thus far although Maine seems to have turned it around a bit. Perez is a lost cause and all we can do at this point is wait for his contract to expire and let him go.

Very tough weekend for the Mets as their offense was non-existent. They needed this win very badly and thanks to Ike Davis they got it. Just continue to feel awful for Johan Santana. This guy must have the worst luck in baseball. The Mets never score runs for him and even when they take a lead into the 9th, the bullpen seems to blow the lead and cost him a win. Good thing for the Mets Santana is not a selfish player and all about personal stats, he just wants to win and I love that about him. As for K-Rod, the guy absolutely scares me every time he comes into a game. I am starting to believe that he is no longer an elite closer. He looks more like an average closer. The Mets may have to get another guy in to serve as an insurance policy in case K- Rod continues to blow games like this. Let's not forget that the Mets and K-Rod were handed a gift when Cuzzi blew the call at home in the 9th inning.

Bark in the Park Day. 429 dogs in attendance. Pelfrey on top of his game. Wild finish.

From Elias: Two firsts worth noting from the Giants-Mets game:

1. There was an odd infield single with 2 on and 1 out in the 9th inning of the Mets game today. It resulted from second baseman Aubrey Huff not covering second base on a ground ball to shortstop. It was Huff's first MLB game played at second base in his 1,641-game career.

2. This was the first win in Mets history in which the game ended on an error by the opposing catcher.

YOU GOTTA BELIEVE!

During batting practice Wilmer Flores was golfing balls to the fans and I snagged one. Glimmer of joy with Duda's laser but too little too late.

I attended this game with my parents, brother-in-law and sister. I got to see one of Duda's HRs. I witnessed one of Bobby Abreu's last ABs. Sad loss to the world champs.

There's nothing thrilling about being humiliated, but Howie Rose was acting like it was Christmas in June. Get a job, Howie.

What a great bottom of the third inning! The Mets scored twelve runs to set a new team record and whipped the Giants. Yoenis Cespedes provided half the scoring with a two-run single and a grand slam as the Mets collected eight hits and sent a total of fifteen batters to the plate. I tuned in to the whole thing and didn’t want to see it end.

In the third inning the Mets score 12 runs in one turn at bat for the first time in about 73,000 innings! Cespedis crushed a grand slam to cap it off.

This may have been the turn around game of the season.

Before this game, the Mets were 6-12 in August and dipped under .500 for the season. But starting this game they won 9 of 11 to eke out a winning month and set up their playing meaningful games in September.

In a do-or-die situation at Citi Field, Noah Syndergaard and Madison Bumgarner matched zeroes with each other for seven innings. The Giants stuck with Bumgarner the rest of the way while the Mets took out Noah and depended on relief pitching. A three-run homer in the top of the ninth was the result and the Mets were done for the year. This can put a lot of doubt into the minds of people on the real value of a bullpen.

I followed the Mets from a win at Target Field to San Francisco. I enjoyed the Mets 11 run outburst. Pete Alonso hit another looong HR. I can get used to this! Oracle Park is my favorite MLB stadium. Anyone who has not been, needs to place it on their bucket list. (I'm now 2-0 in San Fran. Last time, it was called AT&T Park!)

Great game. Tylor Megill gave up 4 runs in 6 innings, increasing his ERA from 0.00 to 2.20. The Mets fought back in the bottom of the 5th with hits by McNeil and Lindor, tying the score at four. Lindor had his first great game as a Met; in addition to his hits, his defensive play was on a higher level. I listened to the game on the radio so I didn't see his plays but the way Howie and Wayne described them, Lindor was pumped up.

In the 9th inning with the score still tied at 4, Buck brought in Edwin Diaz. At that moment, I got a bad Mickey Callaway flashback (regarding management of pitchers) and briefly lost all hope. But Amazingly, Diaz did not allow a run to score in a non-save situation.

In the bottom of the 10th, Lindor got a walk-off hit. The celebration at home plate is really what stands out about this game, because later in the day I saw a picture of Pete tugging at Lindor's jersey like some drunk prom king and Lindor giving him "the Heisman" like the homecoming queen who was having none of it. It was the Mets' first walkoff win of 2022, so it's a good omen that Lindor's jersey survived its ordeal.

The "jersey attack fail" was even mentioned by Howie during the broadcast on the following day. Howie said he asked Lindor if he had asked Pete not to tear his jersey apart, and Lindor said no. Then Howie said he asked Lindor something like, "So what then, the jerseys are extra strong this year?" And Lindor said yes.

Who knows if the Mets' 2022 home jerseys are extra strong this year, but if they are, we all know why. To protect against polar bears.

A special and bittersweet day. Bittersweet because it was the day the long-time Mets coach Joe Pignatano passed away, but for the 2022 squad it was a day of celebration because it was Buck's birthday. Before the game the players decorated the batting cage area and Eduardo Escobar led his skipper out there blindfolded to destroy a pinata with a baseball bat.

The Mets were down early, causing me to put on my (lucky) Mets hat. And just like that, a 2-0 deficit turned into a 5-2 lead. After three singles, Lindor hit a double, scoring two to tie it up. The next batter Pete Alonso hit a 3 run home run and the Mets never looked back.

Then in the late innings a memorable moment occurred when McNeil silenced a heckler who screamed," You got no power McNeil!" in range of the SNY and radio microphones. On the next pitch, McNeil hit a ball 408 feet into McCovey cove. Then Canha hit another one right after him for good measure, shutting that heckler up for good.

A good team win, the Met's biggest margin of victory for the year (so far), and a fitting tribute to Piggy.